


Dragon Song

by kittycat3191



Category: Pete's Dragon (2016)
Genre: Cy dragon dragons molly Pete's dragon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-04 01:02:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14008755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittycat3191/pseuds/kittycat3191
Summary: Inspired by the movie "Pete's Dragon""Listen well, for I tell the the story of when dragons roamed the earth. They flew up high in the sky with their mighty wings as their feet shook the earth as they walked."But old songs like that do not exist.But when pilot crash lands on the mysterious forest island, does she find out what legend and true.





	1. Chapter 1

** Prologue: **

_“I remember a crash”_

“BOOM!!!”

A child’s memory of a car crash flashed through the young human’s mind. It was like those movies where everything is in slow motion and everything is in the air before they come crashing down. The young human remembers looking from where he sat in the car, the backseat. He could see the car was tossing and turning while he tried to hold on in his seat. Darkness soon consumed the child as he fell into the world of unconsciousness.

_“Then I remember somehow being on the ground. Looking up at an empty spot, I felt a sort of hollow and depressed feeling.  As if my world had come to an end.”_

The view of the young boy’s pans from the ground to the dirt road that was once used by cars. It looks as if there had been a landslide. More than what were parts of the dirt road has vanished but traces of red metal and glass could be seen in the soil that was the only trace of a car was here.

The only question is, where did it go?

The old boy, in question, was the only human that was in the area, which was kind of odd since he was only a child. He looked to be about six year old. He wore typical blue jeans with a green shirt and a jacket over it. Chestnut brown hair adorn his head. His face was obvious consumed by the still baby fat and his eyes were brown on the inside and green around the iris. Hazel they were but his eye were not filled in joy. No, he looked to be in shock about something.

The small child was sitting on the ground. He looked as if someone who had been pushed out of the way resulting in him facing the edge of the cliff. Maybe it something to do with what was once on the edge. Perhaps he was the only one who may have survived something horrific that had to do with said edge.  But sadly the boy kept quiet, for something terrible must have happen for him to be silent.

Behind the boy, the thick woods began to howl with voices of monster. Screeches of birds and the most frightening howl filled the air. But with all those sounds they fell to deaf ears to the young boy who lost everything over that dreadful cliff.

_“Then I got up and wondered off somewhere…._

_It was dark in those large, thick woods that I had entered into. I was still in shock at what had happened. I could not remember what but it seemed my face was wet with tears._

_As if someone dear to me had died in front of my very eyes.”_

The young boy was cold. With only the clothes on his back and his short brown hair that went down to his chin as the child went farther into the forest.

It was the only place the boy could think to go. For the roads were muddy and darkness was about to set on the land. The cool air shot through his body as he began to shiver but all the boy could feel was emptiness. He should be afraid of being on his own, but no. He just felt lost and alone.

“ _The only thing that woke me up from my dreamlike state was the sound of the forest’s demons._

_Wolves, coyotes, and bears._

_All the different sounds surrounded me as fear made its way into me.”_

It felt as if the noises were getting louder to the boy. He turned his head left and right as he tried to figure out where the sounds were coming from. But it just seemed that all the menacing creatures of the forest were all around him. As if where ever the boy would go he could not escape from their prying gaze.

That’s when the little lost boy saw them. Red and yellow eyes that peered through the darkness and into the boy’s soul. As if all the monsters were coming out to play and the young child was their favorite toy that they could rip apart.

That’s when fear made his way into the boy’s mind. Fear of being eaten and killed by those forest monsters. Words appeared in the child’s brain of what he should do. He should run, but what if they catch him. Stay and fight did come to his head, but what was such a young child to do against these alpha beasts. The boy would be torn to pieces in a matter of second.

Inside, the boy hoped it would be quick.

_“That’s when it all stopped….._

_And she appeared.”_

All the sounds of the forest hushed into silence. Quietness filled the air as out in the shadows of the trees, was a dark, lush green and wood brown dragon. The traditional, medieval looking dragon seemed to be female, for her face was elegant as a young French woman. Her eyes held kindness and yet some curious as to why such a young human would be in such a place as her forest. Her green and grown scales matched her surrounding, which meant she must have been some sort of earth dragon. She did have the traditional horns of a dragon but they were not just ivory bone but were held onto by green vines. She was tall has well. Reaching up close to the midsection of the tallest tree. The female dragon looked as if she was personally made by Mother Nature herself by the way she looked.

The boy was terrified. Never had he seen such a large, ferocious creature in all his life. The fear of being eaten had come back to him. He wanted to step back and run away, but where would he go?

The dragon, on the other hand, was curious of the boy, for she did not know why this human was out here. Let alone a child so young. The female dragon remembered hearing some sort of landslide and had come to check it out. It soon popped into her head of what transpired.

Another catastrophe had occurred for this small human had lost his family to the tragedy that was plague the land. Humans had, of course, come seeking glory and profit for in their eyes trees can make them money. But by digging up the land can cause some great damage such as erosion and landslides. And it looked like this boy’s family had to pay the price for another man’s greed.

The female came closer to the boy. She saw him shake with terror and knew he was afraid. Like all humans who came to this forest, they all had feared the great dragon’s power. But the earth dragon did not want this child to be afraid of her, for she wanted to help this small child. She just had to show the boy that she wasn’t a threat. That she was not here to harm the small child. Thus, the female dragon tipped her head to the boy, showing the child that she means no mischief for she did not bear her fangs or have her eyes open in a piercing glare.

Watching the female dragon lower her head, the boy could see that her horns were covered in ivy leaves. He had never seen such a sight before. The scared boy put one of his hands forward as he shakenly placed his hand, lightly, on the dragon’s head. He wanted to touch one of its leaves. They were so magical and majestic with their dark and light green colors. A few times he would redraw his hand in fear for what if the dragon bit his hand. But by the fifth reach, the boy saw the dragon meant no impairment. Thus, the young human child was able to place a hand on those beautiful green scales that adorn the female dragon’s face.

The little boy felt the rough scaly skin of the dragon. But he felt something else as well. It was not heat from the dragon’s body. Or the bumpy scales that littered the female’s body. It was something that made him not afraid anymore. Something that made him not want to be afraid anymore. The safety the boy once felt with another, not so long ago.

_“Mara was her name._

_She was a Mother Dragon._

_My savior._

_My Mother”_

_She protected and loved me as if I were her own birth child._

_But that day, I did not just gain a mother. I also gained two new brothers._

_Core and Leaf._

_Core was more of an Alpha with his sharp red and black scales that shone. He loved to dominate, to prove he was powerful and in charge. He prized to prove how strong he is and adored pushing Leaf around. He also had a short temper. Black hot smoke would come from his nose as he puffed up in anger. He would break things and try to fight me for he saw me as a challenge._

_That’s how he got into trouble a lot._

_Mother always had to discipline him into not hurting others without a reason._

_But Core was not all bad. Inside he did care for his family. But the hot-tempered dragon had a weird way of showing it._

_Leaf was more of kind and gentle. I could get lost in the world of sleep on his light green fur. He is always kind to me and follows me around as we go off on many adventures. He blends in with the forest like mother. The smell of pine and oak would always fill my nose when I smelled his fur._

_He’s always a push over when it came to Core, and Leaf would always let Core have his way. But there are days when even kind and gentle Leaf can be very deadly._

The boy was curled up on Mara’s side. Her tail was used like a blanket as little Leaf is curled up next to them. Core is trying to show independence by sleeping farther away but is still close by his family.

Mara watched her boys sleep. The sound of humming could be heard throughout the cave they harbored in. It sounded as if Mara was singing a lullaby to her children.

_“As season came and went, I got older. I was still a small boy but my brothers have grown quite large._

_Not all as big as an adult dragon, but they did reach close to Mother’s neck._

_We were close and happy and it made me believe that nothing can harm our little family._

_But good times can turn bad in a blink of an eye.”_

Both Leaf and the eight year old, who was now called Cy, were taking a walk through the forest. The boy had grew up a little. His brown hair is longer with a few tangled knots that made them look similar to dreadlockes. His shirt was gone from being too small and shredded. His pants sported some holes and were shredded and shorten to his knees. He looked more like a savage boy than someone who once was part of civilization. 

Cy was lying on Leaf’s back in a dream like state as he ran his finger through Leaf’s plush fur. It felt nice and was very comfortable as if her were laying on a pillow of white fluffy clouds. The smell of the forest reached the young boy’s nose as he became lost in the world of dreams.

It was just a little walk they were taking. Like every day, Leaf would stroll through the forest with his human brother on his back. Maybe they would see that deer family again. Or find some berries to munch on.

 They kept moving through the tree as if not a care in the world. Or to the danger they may come by.

“BOOM!”

The sound of gunshot alerted both boys as Leaf halted and Cy sat up. Looking in the direction of which the sound had come from, there was an open patch of land with two men, with guns, conversing as the younger of the two began to reload.

The two men were very different. One being young and still in his mid-thirties. Dressed more neatly than the other and not looking happy to be on this little outing. The other was much older and rougher around the edges. He looked to be enjoying the little endeavor as he pointed his gun at things as if he weren’t afraid to shoot. The men looked at each other as they began to talk. Once the one had finished loading, the two men began to walk. Not caring that they were holding loaded weapons.

Cy and Leaf watched the two strange men. For no human, but Cy, ever stepped this far into their little forest island. Passer byers, yes, in their strange looking vehicles would pass through the dirt roads on the outer rim but none would come this deep.

The men looked to be heading back somewhere before the sound of a twig snapping caught the men’s attention.

The older one raised his gun, with an angry look, and shouted for whomever to come out. “Show yourself!”

The gunner was pointing the loaded weapon in all different directions. The gun only stopped when it landed on Cy, who was hugging a tree and staring at the men with wide eyes.

The older man could not see him clearly, but knew someone was there. Thinking it was someone else, the man’s voice got louder and angrier as he kept the gun pointed at the boy.

But the younger man could see better than the other. For he told him “Put your gun away, it’s just a child.”

But the man did not listen. He kept ranting and pointing the gun at the boy. Swearing he would shoot if he doesn’t identify himself.

Now Cy still new some words of the human tongue. Core did not like it but his mother and Leaf were all right with the boy speaking it now and then.

But right now, no words came to mind. Only fear of what that metal object would do to him.

Before anything, the gun was fired. The younger man tried to stop the gunner from actually shooting the kid and told Cy to run away.

As the men fought, a ferocious growl came from the deep, dark woods. Two large green eyes appeared through the darkness as the growls became louder to frighten the men.

“It’s the devil!” The older gunner shot a few rounds at the creature but it seemed to not be hitting it.

The younger man stumbled backwards while the elder gunner was left with no ammo. They both watched in horror as out of the woods came a large dark green and wood brown dragon with a vicious face.

Mara roared at the frighten men as she tried to scare them off. Like all humans they would run away with fear at the terrifying beast.

The young man stumbled backwards and fell. The other looked to his fallen comrade. But he wasn’t looking at the young man, he was looking at the loaded gun in his lap.

The gunner ripped it out of the youth’s grasp and pointed it at the beast. Similar to all the hunts the gunner had been on, the man pointed the weapon at the most vulnerable part of the dragon. Its chest.

A blast sounded as the bullet launched itself at Mara. Dark red blood seeped out of the hole the bullet made in her chest. The female dragon fell to the ground with a big thud.

It seemed like the air had gone still and all the sounds hushed at that moment.

Cy let out a cry as he rushed to his adopted mother’s side.

The gunner’s face rose with glee as he claimed to have killed the beast. He pointed the gun again but this time at the boy. Claiming, “Now I’ll kill the devil’s child.”

With the last of her strength, Mara did the one thing she could to protect her child. One swipe of her tail sent the gunner flying.

The shooter flew right into some rocks as his body flopped to the ground after. His figure laid dead as the gun was broken in half.

The female dragon’s tail flopped to the ground as the last of her strength waned.

The younger man watched in horror at what transpired. He did not know if he should move or stay perfectly still. He did not want to end up like his other comrade.

His question was answered when out of the woods appeared another dragon.

It seemed to have similar features to the one on the ground, but smaller. It looked up at the other dragon as if it were crying tears.

Looking back at the young man, rage began to fill the gentle dragon as he wanted nothing but to rip him to pieces.

The female dragon gave a couple of chorts.

That’s when the younger dragon looked as if it were about to charge at him. Fearing for his life, the young man got to his feet and ran. He cleared out of the area in no time flat. Leaving the hurt family in peace.

Leaf snorted as he watched the man run away from him. He had complied with his mother’s wishes in not harming the human. He gave a mighty and powerful roar as he watched the human scurry away.

Once gone, Leaf turned his attention back to his dying mother and crying brother. Sorrow and hurt filled him. He muffled a few sorrow chorts as he tried to ease his mother up to her feet.

 But she could not. All her life was leaving her.

_“She looked at us. I didn’t know if it was because she was leaving us or she was dying._

_All I knew was I didn’t want her to go.”_

Mara’s head slowly fell to the ground. Her eyelids began to fall as the eyes became dull.

Mara’s life was no more.

Both boys let out a cry of heartbreak. Leaf let out a loud cry that alerted their brother Core.

The black and red dragon was out hunting for some food. Something Core thought he could do on his own. When he heard his mother’s roar did he come rushing to them. But only to arrive too late and see his brothers crying over their mother’s dead body.

Rage filled the Alpha dragon. For sorrow had no room as he took off into the sky.

Cy and Leaf could only watch their brother leave.

No one seemed to notice the vegetation growing around Mara’s dead body.

_“Fire consumed the earth that night. No one could stop my brother’s rage._

_The humans were driven out of our forest._

_The flood happened too. The heavy river rushed through the valley as it cut off the side of land from one side of our forest island. The bridge the humans built was also destroyed._

_No one could reach our forest island because the other side was filled with landslide and too dangerous to climb or walk on._

_We were at peace. Safe from the other side. Safe from the human world._

_No one could touch us. Harm our family._

_Until years later.”_

It had been ten years later since the fatal incident that rattled the small region. Legends and myths transpired as no one seemed to know the truth of the fateful incident.

Up in the sky, flying over the large forest region, was a lone pilot flying her plane.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Hello Everyone,**

**So I wrote this story a year ago and finally had time in my busy schedule to finally update, edit, and upload every chapter of this story. I will hopefully publish all these works soon. Thanks for bearing with me.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Intruder

Chapter 2: The Intruder  
Flying up above the forest and into the sky was a small airplane. Inside, the mid-thirty year female pilot gently flew the aircraft into glide along the airway stream. Her red hair was tied up in a ponytail as her body adorn the comfortable wear of blue jeans and a green jacket with brown hiking boots. She hummed to herself as she looked out the window at the vast sea of forest below. She gasped and awed at the marvelous and healthy woods that man had not touched. It was breath taking to her.  
The pilot was only brought out of her thoughts when a static voice from her dashboard too her attention.  
“Airplane 51 do you copy?” The male voice crackled from the speakers. “Tell me your position, over.”  
“Hey Carl!” The woman pilot talked into her headset as a smile broaden her face. “How’s it going?”  
“Molly? Is that you?” The man on the radio sounded surprise to hear the pilot’s voice. “Hey girl, how’s it hanging?”  
“Going great Carl.” Molly looked out of her cockpit window at the forest below. “It’s beautiful out here.”  
“Well be careful.” Carl tried to warn her. “You’re heading into a dangerous territory up there.”  
Molly rolled her eyes at the warning.  
Every pilot knew of the dangers of the Deadzone.  
The Deadzone was this little forest island that was out in the middle of nowhere. It was the size of a small town. There was no way to get to it since the old bridge that once led to it had long been destroyed since the flooded river. And no one is willing to build another bridge because of the town’s belief and the forest monster that resided there.  
That’s right. A Forest Monster.  
Some folks say it’s a giant crypto creature that is similar to Big Foot or the Lizard Man. While other say it’s a monstrous dragon.  
Molly, however, thinks it’s just a load of baloney that someone made up to sell to tourist. There also the fact that there is no cell service that causes people to be more afraid. A “no one can hear you scream” scenario that you see in those space movies.  
I know what you’re thinking and that’s correct. All technology that require electricity do not work in this area. That means no cell phone. No cars. An especially no flying an airplane over this area.  
That definitely means Molly had to be careful about flying her little plane near the Deadzone.  
People have no idea why technology doesn’t work there. But then, who can explain the craziness places, such as the Bandura Triangle or Hoia Baciu Forest in Romania, that happen in the world.  
“Don’t worry Carl” Molly tried to reassure the radio operator. “I’m just taking her for a short trip.”  
“Ah-hmm” Carl didn’t by it. “I know you Molly. It doesn’t help that your crazy job will get involved, but I want you nowhere near that place.”  
What Carl was talking about was that Molly was a park ranger. She took care of the forest and all its residence from illegal poachers and loggers. It did help that she had a Phd in Biology and plants study. She just wanted to do her part to keep the hills she grew up with green and lively.  
So of course, an unknown plant source and wildlife would be great to investigate. But since no one could get to it, Molly had no choice but to watch from afar.  
“Alright, Alright.” Carl sighed in annoyance. “I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes to check up on you.”  
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back home before you know it.” Molly looked back out the window at the lush green forest as her plane glided towards her destination.  
“Ya right.” Carl was amused by this. “Just remember, I’ll be watching you.”  
XXXXXX  
The plane engine could be heard across the forest as it echoed. As the sound became nothing but a silent hum. Two rabbits were perched by a small creak. One was scouting while the other was drinking from the stream. One perked up when its ears picked up the small sound and thought that it may be something dangerous. It began to scan the area for any sign of danger.  
But up in the trees, behind some bushes and stones was something that began to move quietly though the trees. It watched the small rabbit with its brown and green eyes. Watching the rabitts every move and tried not to scare them off. The creature slowly brought up a hand as it through something fast and hard through the tree.  
All the sudden, a rock slammed against the one rabbits’ head as the other darted into the forest as fast as its little paws can carry it. The one rabbit laid dead on the stone ground. Blood was slowly bleeding from the wound on its head.  
The creature, now seen to be the older, teenage Cy, jumped out from behind the bushes and made his way over to the dead rabbit. Grabbing a hold of its ears as Cy lifted the rabbit from the ground. The teen brought it up to get a good look at it.  
But stopped when he heard a sound of a broken branch from behind him. Turning his head, Cy could see movement through the trees. The boy began to crouch in a defense position to defend himself from the foe. He had encountered dangerous creatures before and knew that he must prepare for the worst.  
It was that annoying brown wolf. The small canine had it out for Cy ever since the boy embarrassed him in front of his pack. Now the wolf wanted payback and taking the boys prize as proof would be justice. The wolf began to growl as it got into an attack position.  
Cy chuckled because he knew the wolf wanted to panic him. The boy stood his ground as he took a deep breath. Using all of his might, Cy let out a semi-dragon like roar. It came out more powerful than humanly possible. The roar, on the other hand, did it job to frighten the wolf off and crawl back into the woods with its tail between its legs. Cy could not help but snicker by this. He looked behind him, for he knew who was had helped him with his little problem. He turned to see his brother Leaf standing behind him.  
The green, furry, dragon watched the teen give him a playful, annoyed look. As if the boy was saying ‘it was not fair for Leaf to aid him in terrifying the canine away.’ The forest dragon just rolled his eyes in response.  
Cy had gotten confident after many seasons. The boy was no longer the little boy that he grew up with but now was older, probable around sixteen or so. His hair had grown very long and mated. It went down his back and almost to his knees from the years. It served its use for the cold winters as an extra blanket.  
His old clothes were long gone and now all he had on were some old, worn jeans. Cy and Leaf had acquire them one day when they saw a group of stupid humans hanging out on the other end of the broken bridge. It looked to be as if, one boy wanted to join the pack but the feral child and dragon weren’t sure. All the two forest children could remember is group of delinquents taking the boy’s clothes, after they made him strip, and tossing them in the river below, then driving off to who knows where.  
The shirt had long been gone down the roaring river while the pants had fallen onto the rocky shore. They were a little bit for Cy, but it was better than having his private parts exposed.  
Leaf looked at the feral child, who was glaring at him in annoyance. He could not help but give a pathetic look as if he was saying, ‘Please forgive me” for not allowing Cy to prove how strong he was to the wolf.  
Cy could not help but let out a sympathetic smile. He could never stay mad at his dragon brother. The sixteen year old just sighed as if he was telling the dragon. ‘He forgave him.” The wild teen held up his prize to show off to his dragon brother.  
The green dragon gave a curious look at the dead rabbit in the boy’s hand.  
“Hey hey.” Cy moved the rabbit behind his back and used his other hand to stop the dragon. “This is my dinner. Probably a snack for you.”  
Leaf gave the boy a disgusting look as he stuck out his tongue in a gagging expression.  
Cy could not help but laugh at Leaf’s expression. “I know you don’t eat meat.”  
The forest dragon always had a distaste for red meat. Fish was something Leaf would have on occasion, but flourishing greens and berries were the furry green dragons favorite.  
“You know.” Cy watched as his dragon brother’s ears perked up. “I saw some very delicious berries not far from here.”  
Leaf’s face turned to pure joy of the thought of delightful berries.  
“Alright.” Cy began to walk towards the dragon. “Let’s put this back in the Den quickly and then I’ll take you to your delicious berries.”  
Leaf nodded his head eagerly as he allowed Cy to climb onto his back. The large green dragon spread his wings as they took off into the sky.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Flying in the sky has always been the greatest thing for Cy. The wind in his face. The stream of air running through his hairs and down his body as he clung to the large, furry, green dragon’s back.  
Looking out, Cy could see the forest sea below them. The clouds above and next to them were white and fluffy. Cy would often reach out and touch them but he had to hold onto Leaf and make sure his prize rabbit didn’t fall off.  
But what he saw the most through the ocean of trees, was the giant tree that stood in the middle of it all. It stood tall and thick as if it were the mother to all trees.  
Cy could not help but smile when he looked upon it.  
It was their beacon through these woods. The sign that showed how healthy and strong their forest was. It was their last memory of their dragon mother, Mara.  
Leaf glided through the sky as the dragon began to circle a semi-open tree line. There was a small campsite below with old tree that had mostly lost its leaves in the center. All around the campsite was some logs and wooden Poles that was used to hang meat and leaves to be dried by the sun, along with some skinned fur. There was some deep, dug out pits that was used to hide food from other animals and to store for the winter. In the middle was a small fire pit. The large tree had hollow center inside for the two to sleep and lay in.  
Leaf glided onto the ground as he landed all four paws on the brown dirt. His wings tucked themselves back into their proper place as Cy jumped down from the green dragon’s back and onto the ground.  
The teen ran, with his rabbit to their storage pit and placed it down with the other dry meats and berries. The cool dirt made it an excellent place to store food for long periods of time. The inner walls of the pit were made out of wood to keep out pests and rodents that may burrow their way to the food.  
Cy closed and placed the rocks back onto the pit to keep out any other predators that may want his food. He would have to take care of the rabbit later. Leaf would get too antsy if the dragon had to wait any later for his berries.  
The furry green dragon was already pawing and mewing at his brother to hurry up. The dragon was more than excited to get to his favorite food right away.  
Cy could not help but chuckle at the dragon antics.  
But, the two were brought out of their joyous moment, when they hear a strange sound coming from the air. They both looked up into the sky and wondered what on forest’s green earth was that sound.  
XXXXXXXXX  
Okay, Molly had to admit it. She got a little lost flying her plane. She didn’t mean to. It was just, for some reason, her compass went all crazy and started to spin on occasion that made her more confused as to which direction she was heading.  
Molly knew that she needed to get her compass fixed one of these days. She had been procrastinating day by day that she would get it done tomorrow. Who knew that today would be the day that it would come back and bite her in the butt.  
“Molly?” Carl had once again called her back and Molly could already guessed what he was about to say. “You’re heading in a totally different direction.”  
“You remember my compass that I said needed to be fixed.” Molly tried to not make Carl to mad at her.  
“The one you said would get fixed soon.” Carl was more annoyed by the woman’s carelessness. “You still haven’t gotten it fixed! Molly…”  
“I know I know. I should have gotten fixed days ago.” Molly tried to calm the radio operator down.  
“Molly! You are very close to the Deadzone and I don’t want to see you get hurt because of some careless mistakes.” Carl was trying to urge the pilot to get out of there.  
“Don’t worry Carl. My compass is working properly and I should be heading back in the correct direction, right about…..” Molly was slightly turning her steering so she would be heading in the correct direction. The only problem was that the plane started coming down with more problems.  
The lights began to flash off and on as the engine began to putter.  
“Uh oh” Molly tried to get the engine to start as she tried to keep her steering steady. The engine continued to stutter before it stopped completely.  
“Mo.ll…llyy..???” Carl’s voice went in and out as communication would soon be lost.  
“Carl! If you can hear me.” Molly tried to steady her steering as she got ready. The plane began to point downwards as she tried to stop it from noise diving. “I’m heading down. Please get my coordinates. I’m in for a bumpy ride.”  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
On the other side of the radio. Carl was trying very hard to hear what Molly was saying. He tried over again to get through to the other side but it just came out more like static.  
Horror drew into him at the thought that Molly’s plane had crashed. He began desperately search through his computer at where the plane might have gone. But all the computer had given him were the coordinates over the Deadzone.  
“Shoot.” Carl right away got on the phone as he made a direct call to the rescue station. His next call, however, would be much more difficult.  
XXXXXXXXXXX  
Out past the small English town and into the national park was a small logging company own by one Charles Colins. Charlie for short. In his mid-thirties, Charlie did not grow up in or anywhere near this town. He grew up quiet far and reopened the logging plant a year ago.  
It was quiet good for the town. It allowed people to acquire a job as a logger and keep food on the table. It had been going great. That is until some people got their own ideas of how far they should cut into the woods. People would think that they have learned their lesson from last time they tried to do some illegal logging. But no, they just had to cross that line.  
That man was Mark Granger in Charlie’s book. Charlie had tried to keep the man under control, but there would be times. Especially when he heard from his girlfriend, Molly the forest ranger, of their illegal activities.  
Charlie just got off another call from the rangers saying they saw some paint spray mark on some trees that were not supposed to be cut down due to some wild life living in them. Thus, here was Charlie making his way over to Mark and his little posy to tell them to stop for the hundredth time.  
“Mark.” Charlie makes his way over to the small group who are finishing tying some logs to be transported.  
“Ya boss.” Mark acted as if he had no idea what Charlie was coming to him for.  
Charlie started walking over to the head man as he began the long conversation that seemed to become nothing but rehearsed. “I just got a call from Darel.”  
“Uh huh.” Mark leaned on the truck as he waited for Charlie to give his daily “Ranger report” on something he did wrong.  
“Can you tell me why there seemed to be marks in a protected area?” Holding his clip board, Charlie scratch the back of his head as he waited for the man to answer.  
“No idea boss.” Mark just acted as if he had no clue what Charlie was talking about. “We only mark where you say to mark.”  
Charlie let out a sigh. It was going to be one of those days where Mark would lie his butt off in saying that he had no idea what he was talking about. Mark did this a lot. He would send his buddies up there to mark a few trees then cut and transport them here without anyone knowing it.  
That’s why Charlie had to be extra careful and make sure that nothing got past him. Or he would get an earful from his girlfriend.  
“Mark.” Charlie gave the man a stern look. “You can’t keep doing this.”  
“What?” Mark looked as if he had been offended. “I’m just doing my job as a logger. I need trees to cut and I cut down some trees.”  
“Yeah but the trees you’re marking are not allowed to be cut down.” Charlie pointed his clipboard at Mark. “I told you once I told you a thousand times Mark. I want you to only cut down the trees I tell you to cut down.”  
“Or what?” Mark did this from time to time. “You’ll fire me. I hate to tell you buddy but you fire me, then all your workers go to.”  
That was only part true. Mark only had four or five friends here. The rest would probably be threaten by the small group of troublemakers just to prove how powerful Mark was.  
It laments turns. Mark was a bully. He loved power even when it came out in small doses. And he knew that a nobody like Charlie had no power to keep people here working. The only thing keeping this place going was people in desperate need of work and a guy to watch their back.  
Charlie just need some way to keep Mark in control. But today was one of those days that he needed to show this malevolent man who was boss. “Not only that. But you and your goons will be going away for a long time.”  
Mark just rolled his eyes at this.  
“What? You thought it would just be a couple fines. Fines that cost over a hundred dollars that you can easily pay.” Charlie voice began to rise as every worker gazed about the fight. “No Mark. There are a lot of reports on your illegal project that I’ve been keeping tags on and I have a bunch of folders that I can take to the police anytime I want.”  
“Mr Colins?” A man just came up to the side of Charlie as he tried to get his bosses attention while holding onto the phone in his hand.  
“Not now!” Charlie needed to get this out. “So if you don’t want to end up in jail ‘buddy’. Then get your act together and do your job.”  
“Mr Colins!”  
“WHAT!!!!” Charlie looked over at the man with the phone in an angry yell.  
“It’s Carl.” The man held up the phone to his boss. “It’s about Molly. She….”  
Charlie practically yanked the phone out of the man’s hand as he listened to the call. “It Charlie….What do you mean!?!...Where is she?...What do you mean you can’t get in touch with her…..I’m on my way.”  
Charlie headed to his car as he dug the keys from his pocket. “No I haven’t heard from Max about this….I be the last person he would call to about his daughter. I’m on my way.”  
The engine roared as he pulled his truck out and onto the road as the car sped as fast as the speed limit allowed him to.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Molly felt pain as she tried to open her eyes. So far all she felt was sore from head to toe. She did not know if that was a good sign or she was just in shock.  
First thing Molly did was excess the damage. She seemed to be in one piece but did not know how her plane was. Was it on the ground? In the air hanging by a branch? It looks like she had no choice but to careful see where she was.  
It was a miracle in Molly’s position. Not only had she somehow safe landed, from crashing into the ground, with her plane semi intact. The wings and tail was heavily damaged or missing. The metal shell of the plane was banged up a lot. But so far, no fire of fuel was leaking. Which was odd yet, very good in Molly predicament for her plane will hopeful not catch fire.  
The only problem now, was Molly was still out in the middle of nowhere.  
“Well,” Molly scanned the many trees that surrounded her. “Better get moving.”  
The female pilot started crawling back into her aircraft to lift a metal hatch that led to her emergency backpack in case she crashed her plane. Today would be that day, Molly got to it. Looking inside, Molly saw that there were two water bottles, some granola bars and a few packets of dry food, a pocket knife, radio, compass, phone, a flashlight and a disposable camera. Things that would keep her safe and alive for a day or two, but let’s just hope it does not come to that.  
The first thing Molly needed to do was to head towards something that she knew would get her off this island. And that would be towards the broken bridge. Let’s just hope that her old style compass was leading her in the correct direct.  
“Okay Molly Andler. We’re just taking a nice walk down an uninhabited forest to get back home. People are looking for you and I’m pretty sure your boyfriend and father just called the National Guard. I just don’t know if it was one or the other who did it first.” She was pretty sure she was in shock or had a concussion. It was just best to keep moving. Even when she was talking to no one but herself.  
Walking down the forest was not challenging for a girl who grew up in the woods. But Molly was determine to get home. Even if she had to climb steep hills. Which she was. Scale rock terrain. Which she was. And have predators following her waiting to eat her the moment she stopped moving.  
Yes, Molly was slightly panicking. But with all her forest training and life as a ranger she knew the worst thing to do was panic. So here she was, trying not to alarm herself and make her way through the thick forest and hopefully find the broken bridge before sunset.  
Her plane couldn’t have crash far from it, right? Of course, she was only 10 miles away from the highway and she would have followed it back to civilization when she flew her plane.  
So Molly was definitely sure she would be home in time to get yelled at by her two men. “Oh yes, the yelling and the screaming. Can hear it know. I told you that flying that plane was a stupid idea. And now look at you. You crash landed in the Deadzone, with no way of contacting us or letting us know you’re alive. Yeah, that’s not going to get annoying.”  
Molly began to climb another steep hill as she posed for a few by a tree. “Yeah, I don’t have a concussion at all.”  
The woman ranger pushed herself off the tree as she set off once again. Molly did have that strange feeling that someone was following her though. But then again, she is surrounded by hundreds of miles of woods. Molly just hoped it was just a squirrel or something small.  
XXXXXXXXX  
It didn’t take long for the boy and dragon to find the crazy lady. She somehow did not get hurt by the crash but there was a lot of things wrong with her to be talking to herself like that. Cy just chalked up to her being scared and in pain since she did crash her big metal object.  
Leaf just thought the woman was just plane nuts. The only creature they heard talk that much was an annoying squirrel, that would often try to steal their food.  
The green dragon was about to suggest that they leave her alone. She seemed more than capable to head back to where she belonged.  
“We can’t Leaf.” Cy looked up into the sky as if he were afraid of something. “What if Core finds out.”  
Core, their big bully of a brother. Cy was right. Leaf knew that they had to get this human off their island before their dragon brother found out. Or it will be the whole human crisis all over again.  
Leaf nodded his head in understanding as he listened to his human brother tell him the plan.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
Okay, there was definitely something in the forest with her, Molly was sure of that. She had no idea who or what but there was definitely something following her. Or was she following it.  
“Come on Molly.” She tried to reassure herself. “There is no such thing as the forest monster. Just wolves…and coyotes…..And bears.”  
Molly seemed to be reassuring herself less and less by the way she kept numbering the creatures she could encounter. But so far, the individual did not seemed to want to attack her. Why was it making her follow it she had no idea.  
“Okay, you better not be leading me to your den for a snack.” Molly huffed as she tried to keep up with it as they made their way up another hill. “I’m telling yeah, I got a knife. It’s not a very big knife, but it can do quite a lot of damage.”  
Molly had finally reached the top. She saw a perfect boulder that was half sunk into the earth and had a flat top. The ranger sat down upon it as she needed to take a few short breaths.  
She began to fish in her bag for one of the water bottles when she accidently turned on the radio. Somehow, but some miracle, she had gotten a signal.  
It began to speak as the person on the other side tried to communicate with her. “Molly? Please be there Molly.”  
Molly quickly pulled out the hand radio as she began to speak into it. “Gus? Can you hear me?”  
“Molly?”  
The sound of a quick shove was heard before another voice appeared on the walky-talky. “Molly? My little girl. Are you okay?”  
Molly had to urge not to roll her eyes. “I’m here dad.”  
“Molly it me.”  
The third voice she recognized as Charlie. Her Dad and Charlie must have been at the police station trying to get a rescue in order.  
“I’m fine guys. A little worse for wear but….” Molly was cut off by all the voices that began to operate the radio at once.  
“You call being on a deserted island fine!”  
“Molly you just crashed a plane.”  
“Guys! Give me that!”  
She felt really bad for Gus. It was no picnic for anyone to be near those two when they were fighting over her. But Molly had to get the situation under control if she wanted to see home again. “Guys! I need you to listen to me right now. I don’t know how long this signal is going to last but I’m heading to the broken bridge. Meet me on the other side and we can……”  
“Molly? You there?”  
Molly was unable to respond at the moment. For she had turn around to see she was on top of what looked be a large mountain. Looking over an edge, she saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. A scenery of a sea of trees with one large one in the middle of it that all seemed to be the mother to them. It looked as if its thick vines and lush leaves were reaching out to each tree as it were holding hands like mother and child. The sun was beginning to fall that made the sky golden. It gave a nice sunset look.  
Not realizing it, Molly pressed down on the radio. “It’s so beautiful.”  
“What is?”  
“I have to take a picture of this.” Molly began to fish again through her bag until she found her disposable camera. “I don’t care if you don’t work. I just have to capture this moment.”  
“Molly? What the hell are you talking about?”  
“I just found the most beautiful tree.” Molly did not care if she sounded crazy.  
“Oh great. She’s fawning over a tree.”  
“Well if you hadn’t….”  
The sound of twig snapping brought Molly out of her moment. She was scared. The sound followed by the sound of what sounded like a large animal. She couldn’t see if but somehow, knew it was there.  
Molly began to lift her camera as she snapped a photo. She did not know why she did that, but her mind was not registering with her hands at the moment.  
That’s when she saw him. At least Molly think she saw him.  
Behind some shrubbery and trees, she thought she saw a boy. Couldn’t get a clear look at him, but he was definitely human.  
“Hey.” Molly tried to get a better look at him. “You there.”  
As she began to walk towards him did the boy seem to backaway.  
“Don’t be afraid.” When Molly tried to get closer to the boy, the radio started going in and out.  
“Molly?”  
The boy seemed to be watching her for a moment. But then he dashed into the woods as Molly gave chase.  
The radio had finally died as the female ranger tried to go after the strange boy. She had no idea why he was running from her. It was not like she was going to hurt him.  
The farther they ran into the forest, it seemed as if the woods were beginning to thin out. Molly saw that in front of her was a dark patch on the ground. When she came out, it was a good thing the ranger girl stopped when she did for Molly would have gone over the edge. Molly had apparently ended up where she wanted to go.  
Molly had reached the broken bridge.  
The bridge was ten miles long and was made out of old metal. It was broken directly in the middle. Rust and forest had corroded the bridge from long time neglect and abandonment. The roaring water below were loud and echoing through the gorged. The darkness of night had set in as it became harder to see the other side.  
Molly tried to see if there was anyone on there. Hopefully the others had gotten her message before the radio went out. The woman ranger tried to see if the boy she saw was still around. So far there was no sign of him and it made her wonder if she made him up or he was really there.  
That’s when Molly heard it.  
Light suddenly appeared from the other side of the gorge as three cars made their way to the bridge. Her father’s, boyfriend’s, and a rescuer’s car were parking on the one side of the bridge. The lights from the vehicles were blinding but it allowed Molly to know that she was found.  
On the other side, everyone was scrabbling around trying to figure a way to get to Molly. The rushing water made it impossible to get across by foot. So they had to come up with another way to get to the female ranger.  
That’s when the rescue trucks got out a weird looking gun that hooked onto the back of the truck. It looked like a giant hook gun that was from one of those spy movies. The one rescuer carefully aimed the hook before he press the trigger and it launched the hooks over and around one of the rusty metal loops that was on Molly’s half of the bridge. They then placed pressed another button and the line became firm and taught. They placed what looked to be a gadget with a harness on it before they pushed another button and it gadget moved towards Molly.  
Molly knew what this gadget was for. Even though it was mostly seen in spy movies, this was a perfect way for her to cross to the other side. Once she put on that harness she will be line gliding over the missing bridge to the other side.  
An adrenaline junkie dream to glide across broken bridge with rushing water below them. If Molly messed this up in any way, she could end up dead by drowning or hitting one of the rocks below.  
The harness finally reached her as she quickly put her hair up into a bun. The sound of something rustling behind made her freak out more. Even though it could be the boy she saw, Molly began to doubt that when it sounded a lot bigger.  
The harness was snapped into place as Molly gave one final tug, to make sure everything was secure, before she walked over to the edge. She took a deep breath as the female ranger got ready to jump.  
When she finally made her leap and pushed off, Molly swears she saw him again. That young, teenage, boy with matted hair and ripped jean pants that were his only source of clothing. The one thing that scared her was the big green eyes behind him.  
The rush of air filled her face and body as she glided down to the other side. It was an amazing experience, if only not for the fact she just thought she saw a giant monster. So excited and scared was pretty much how she was feeling right now.  
The glide was pretty short, before Molly made it to the other side. Quickly everyone came rushing to her to make sure she was alright.  
As the one rescuer tried to unharness her, and her father, Max, came right up to make sure she way okay. “You alright.”  
“Yes, Dad I’m alright.” Molly tried to reassure her father.  
Charlie was the next one to come up to her. “Ya right, you were in a plane crash. We’re taking you to a hospital.”  
This may be the concussion talking, but Molly for some reason was not up for going to the hospital. She was more curious about the boy in the woods.  
The two men had to practically drag her into one of the vehicles before the other followed suit as they made their way to the hospital.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Cy let out a sigh of relief.  
It had taken quite a while but they got the human of their island and back with her people. There was no incident that had occurred while doing so. Except for the fact that Cy had to reveal himself to get the human to follow him. Which Leaf did not like at all.  
They never revealed themselves to humans. That’s mostly because never had any set foot on their island since Cy was a child. Ever since the incident with Cy’s and Leaf’s mother the two had refused to go near any human.  
But Cy could not leave the human alone. Not if they wanted Core to find them.  
Speaking of Core. The sound of roaring could be heard not far away.  
Cy and Leaf had come back to the Den after they saw the human leave their island. Cy was about to skin and cook his rabbit when they heard their dragon brother’s roar. It was not a friendly roar like Leaf’s was. No this one was more agitated and mean. Both Cy and Leaf began to prepare for the worst.  
The wind began to pick up as out in the brush appeared a red and black dragon. This dragon looked more fitting for a dark, medieval dragon compare to the cuddly Leaf. Core was much more ferocious and frightening. He look like the monster of the Island Forest than Cy and Leaf put together.  
The black and red dragon scanned the campsite as he gave a snarl. He could smell it. Something was not right. He had often visited the home of his brother’s one time or another. He was a loner but did feel, from time to time, that he needed to be near his brothers. But right now, something did not settle, well, with Core.  
What was it that disturbed the alpha dragon?  
Core gave a sniff of the air before he knew. Something had entered their woods. Something the black dragon had grown to hate. A human.  
Anger shot through the dragon as he looked from green dragon to the boy. Both of them were in a defense position. Scared of what Core might do.  
They can never know what the red and black dragon is thinking. They just hoped Core had not realized at what had transpired. Unfortunately for them, Core had already figured it out.  
The black dragon gave a vicious roar as it yelled at its brothers. Core did not need to know who was responsible for letting the human get away. He could already see that in Cy’s eyes that the boy had let the human escape.  
How could he? After what had happen to their mother. How could he allow another human to live after stepping foot in their territory?  
The black and red dragon was red with rage as Core charged at his human brother. Leaf quickly got in front of Cy as he protected him from Core’s attack. The black and red dragon slammed his head into the furry green dragon’s body as Core pushed Leaf back. The gentle dragon’s paws began to slide in the dirt as he tried to hold himself up. His dragon brother kept pushing Leaf away to try and get to Cy. The green dragon could not let that happen.  
“Stop!” Cy yelled at his alpha brother to stop hurting Leaf. But he knew once Core was in his rage mode, nothing would stop the demonic dragon.  
Cy could not watch helplessly as his gentle brother tried to protect him. He had to do something or else Leaf could end up hurt or worse. Doing the only thing he could think of, Cy charged at Core.  
The boy jumped off just in time for the black dragon’s head to be lower as he grabbed onto Core’s horns. The boy’s hands were around the black spirals as Cy tried to use his weight to force the dragon’s head down and into the dirt.  
Core was have none of that. The black dragon tried to knock off the boy but Cy held on tight. It infuriated the dragon more as it did the only thing it could think of.  
It forced its head up against a tree, cause Cy’s backside to connect with the hard an rough wooden tree. There was no snap but instead a loud scream as Cy’s backside became covered in large busies and splinters. The pain became unbearable that it caused Cy to loosen his grip on the dragon’s horn. But the boy did not fall. Instead, the black dragon lowered its head slightly as the boy began to slowly slide off.  
Cy fell to the ground as he became unable to move due to his back. Luckily, it was not broken but the pain made him unable to move.  
Core just let out an excuse roar. Saying it was not his fought and they were the once who drove him to it. The black and red dragon took off into the air as it left its siblings behind.  
Leaf was glad to see his dragon brother go. Anger soon left him as the only thought was to make sure his human brother was okay. The green dragon gave a few cooing sound as to try and coax Cy out of his world of pain.  
Cy came out of it a little bit, but he was still in so much pain that he could not get up. The problem was, was that his body refused to move.  
Thus Leaf had no choice but to go inside the Den and retrieve one of their fur blankets, that Cy had made for cold nights, and the boy on top of it.  
They had done this many times before. For this was not the first time that Core had hurt Cy or Leaf. Ever since their mother’s death, there had been no one to stop the black dragon’s mean temper but Cy and Leaf. The green dragon would try to protect his human brother but of cause Core was stronger.  
Now here Leaf was, placing his injured brother on the fur blanket as he slowly dragged him into the Den. Hopefully tomorrow would be better for them.  
The once delectable rabbit was still laying on the dirt. It was left to waste for the two wanted nothing more than to just sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:  
What would have been hours had taken no more than forty minutes for Charlie to drive to Brookside Hospital. It was the only hospital in the small forest town. The medical facility was a three floor, plain, tan, and concrete building that looked like something out of an 8o’s movie about some small country town. Even though its appearance was out of date on the outside, inside it was filled with doctors and nurses who made sure everyone was well taken care of. Most chairs were filled due to injury, mostly from getting cut by to knife or shot in the foot because of some hunting accident, but there were some who were just here to get a regular check up and make sure they were healthy. But down the hall, that smell of disinfectant and bleach, was one hospital room that held four people.  
Of course, the three out of four people in the room were old man Max and log owner Charlie, who were busy arguing with each other, and Molly, who was on the hard dark turquoise color exam table that had that awful, crinkle paper that kept the mat clean.   
The doctor had finished checking Molly and said that she was extremely lucky that the female pilot had not gotten any broken bones, fractured skull, or died. Chock it up to impressive flying skills, but Molly would definitely have bruises, scraps, and sores for the next couple of days.   
Once the doctor left, a black nurse in a pink smock was putting some cream on Molly’s arm before she bandaged it up. The female nurse could not help but roll her eyes, similar to how Molly was, at the two grown men who were arguing like children.  
“Guys! I’m fine.” Molly said in an angry huff. It had to be no more than two hours since the men started quarreling over her injuries. And it as not just in the hospital, it was also in the long car ride over here. And there were in two separate cars!   
First, it started with who Molly was going with to the hospital. Her father, Max, or Molly’s future husband, Charlie. It was a tug of war but it got settled when Molly started climbing into Charlie’s car and started the truck to drive herself to the hospital. Thank goodness the men stopped fighting just in time for Charlie to jump into the driver’s seat and push Molly over to the passenger seat before she drove off.  
“Are you nuts!?!” Charlie yelled at the injured pilot. “You just got in an accident!”  
“It got you in the car didn’t it?” Molly smiled to herself as she knew what buttons to push to get the two men to head to the hospital.  
They had somehow gotten safely to the hospital, with Max driving behind them in his old pickup truck, which was a surprise by the way Charlie was driving. Molly was astonished that they had gotten to the hospital in one piece at all. She knew that Charlie was worried and believed that Molly could have been injured been severely and probable make her fall into a coma or something if they didn’t make it to the hospital in time.  
And, of course, Molly cannot forget how when they arrived both men were in a panic and ordering the hospital staff to get a wheel chair or prepare the operating room. Thank god, Molly’s longtime friend, Doctor Verserie, had taken her to an open room and started inspecting her.  
Molly knew Doctor Verserie, who was a male Indian doctor who also transferred here from Buffalo New York five years ago, had helped her with a lot of cases of campers, hikers, and hunters getting lost or injuries in the woods. He was Molly’s go to Doctor, when she herself got injured and lucky for she knew how to handle any situation.   
But right now, Molly was almost finished up and was not looking forward to another session of the men’s quarrel. Fortunate for the pilot, Nurse Mina, the African American nurse, could see in Molly’s eye that the ranger would rather be unconscious than listen to another word from those men.  
“Excuse me.”  
Both men stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the nurse.  
Nurse Mina was looking very upset as she said, “If you two aren’t going to be quiet, then I suggest you two get out. I have patients in worse shape than her and their families are much quieter than both of you.”  
Both men looked ashamed but still looked at each other in anger.  
Nurse Mina was having none of that as she pointed her finger to the door for the men to get out. Both men shuffled out of the room, but neither were quiet since both women could hear them bickering about how it was the other’s fault for being kicked out of the room.  
Molly could not help but thank Nurse Mina for getting them out. She loved both to death but more than once did she wish she could strangle the two.  
“It’s no problem girl.” Nurse Mina finished up by tying the gauze around Molly’s arm. “I have family who yell and argue over the littlest scrape and bruises. Have you seen what I do for a living? A paper cut is not gonna kill ya.”  
Molly could not help but laugh at Mina’s complaint of her family. It was great getting a good laugh in after the crazy day she was having today on that broken bridge.   
“Hey Mina?”  
Mina was putting away all the medical supplies before she looked over at Molly.  
“Can someone survive in a forest all by themselves?” Molly felt her head was going into overdrive from that one question.  
“You should know the answer better than me.” Nurse Mina stated. “You’re the one who’s off in those woods helping people and seeing wild life.”  
It was true. Molly’s job as a forest ranger did help her understand that it was quiet hard for anyone as young as that boy she seen to live out in the woods. Heck, with all this technology and satellites, who would be able to go undetected. But then again, this was on an island that was far away and cut off from civilization. How did this kid get on the island anyway? That was quiet a puzzle to the female forest ranger.  
“You okay in there?” Nurse Mina is kind of freaking out by the way Molly pondered so much. “I can lie and say you need to stay in the hospital for further watching. Or better yet, get you head examined again.”  
“No no. I’m fine.” Molly just wanted today to be over with. Maybe a good night sleep will help rejuvenate and hopefully clear her head. But she definitely would not forget the boy’s face or the big glowing green eyes that were behind him.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
Out on the isolated island, deep in the forest was the lone den that had a large tree growing on the top of it. Inside was a lone fire lit high up in the middle of the cave. It blazed the color of red as it kept the stone cave lit and warm. Its embers smell wasn’t harsh as the smoke exited through the cave’s small hole in the ceiling.  
Against one of the cave stone walls, and on top of the green moss and piles of blanket furs laid the large, green plush earth dragon, Leaf, with his young human brother, Cy, leaning against his fur plush side. The boy had one of the fur blankets over his lap as the feral teen tried to breathe slowly. He knew his ribs weren’t broken, because Cy had broken them before, but it did hurt a lot and the black and blue marks were heavily forming all over his body, including his back.   
Right now, the feral boy did not want to move right no. Even with hunger in his stomach, Cy refused to eat from the pain.  
This was not the first time Cy had been hurt by his Alpha, dragon brother, Core. The dominate male, had always had a thing for getting angry and hurting his brothers. There were many scars and marks from over the years of Core’s bullying. Both Cy and Leaf knew that it was Core’s fault that they were horribly injured after these outburst but neither could hate the red and black dragon. Call it pity or Stockholm, but they were an odd family anyway.  
Speaking of Core, both human and dragon perked up when they heard heavy footsteps stepping on fallen twigs and branches on the dirt ground from outside the cave door. First thing that came through was the large black and red dragon’s head. He scanned the den as the black dragon saw Leaf and Cy on one end of the wall. It sounded as if the Alpha dragon was letting out a huff of some sort before fully entering the cave.  
Leaf tried to shield Cy from Core by using his long neck and head. The green dragon did not want to the Alpha dragon to hurt the boy more than he already has. Giving somewhat of a low growl, Leaf was telling Core to back off.  
The black and red dragon rolled his eyes. He knew that Leaf would never be able to beat him. To him, the green dragon was a joke. Humans were supposed to fear and hate them. Even if Cy was their brother, the young feral child had no business being near those abominations at all. The boy was more dragon than human anyway. So why should he be near those worthless parasites. That’s why Core had to do it. To not only show how strong he is, but to show that no human should ever step on their island and leave alive.   
The black and red dragon made his way over to the other side of the cave far away from his brothers. Core already had a big meal and decided to rest. He could rest anywhere the alpha dragon wanted, but since he was close to Leaf’s and Cy’s den, why not just stop by and use their home for his own use. It’s not like they could kick him out or anything. Both were injured. Even though it was mostly his fault, Core did not look fazed, but inside, he did feel bad that his anger caused him to attack his brothers. He could see with his dark eyes, how Cy was having some sort of a hard time breathing. The Alpha dragon could not have hit him that hard. But then again, Cy was human, no matter the training or fighting ability the boy had, the feral child was still fragile.  
Core didn’t want to think about it. The large medieval red and black dragon turned his head away from his siblings as he closed his eyes to fall asleep. The dragon was done for the day and wanted all thoughts and worry to stop.  
Leaf watched his dragon brother turned to the wall to sleep. He let out a snorty huff in anger at his so called older brother. If their mother were alive, she would have forced Core to apologize. But then again, she would, also, no have let Cy get hurt in the first place. This is why Leaf did not like how he let the boy get hurt by the bigger dragon. How was he going to protect his fragile human brother if he couldn’t even protect the child from their older, brutal brother, Core.  
Cy could see his gentle dragon brother contemplating himself. The feral child hated when his brother did that to himself. The boy reached up his hand as he patted the green dragon’s side.  
It was light and would go unnoticed by most large creatures, but not Leaf. He turned to look at the source to see Cy giving him a gentle smile.   
In the boy’s eyes, Leaf could see his human brother telling him that it was okay. That Leaf should not plague his mind with thoughts of worry and hate.  
Both turn to sleep instead. Leaf had laid his head on the warm stone floor while injured human leaned against the big green dragon’s plush fur that acted as an incredible warm pillow.  
The crackle of the hot fire and night creatures of the forest could be heard, for there would be no stories from Cy tonight. For the red and black dragon silent all words from the little human’s mouth.


	4. Chapter 4: Wolf

Chapter 4:  
Cy was dreaming. He had no idea of what, but it was as if it were in a distant memory that kept nagging at him to remember.  
Cy looked around and saw that he was in some sort of a vehicle. Old fashion four wheel car with tan-ish grey leather seats and panels. The car looked to be something from the 90’s. A car that someone would rent for a vacation in the mountains.  
In front of him two seats for a driver and passenger. Some kind of country song was playing on the radio, but the passenger kept trying to change the station to find some more pop or rock songs.  
“Is there nothing good on this thing?” the one voice, which was sitting in the passenger seat, sounded like a woman.  
Cy could not put his finger on it, but he felt as if he had known them. He tried to get a better look, but he felt as if he had known them. He tried to see what they looked like, but the memory was fuzzy. It was as if his mind would not let him focus on the two people. So the young boy focused on the two voices instead.  
“What do you expect when we came out here to the country?” The one driving sound like a man. He had no accent which made him seem like a northerner that was close to a city with the way he talked to fast.  
“How far are we from the campsite?” asked the female.  
“Not far.” The man tried to ease the woman’s annoyance at the radio.  
“I wish we brought some tapes or CDs to listen to.” The woman gave up on looking for a station and settled for some weird man’s voice singing a song about a girl he had a crush on and wished he had the courage to go up and talk to her.  
“Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon.” The blur of a man looked to be rising from his seat as if he was looking into his mirror at the back seat passenger, Cy. “What do you think………? Think we’ll see that elusive Forest Monster.”\  
Cy could not help but smile at the statement. Even though this was just a dream, the young boy really did wish he could tell the two blurs the truth. That the forest monster already knew that they were here.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
Light and darkness both reached both of Cy’s eyelids as the feral child slowly woke up. The boy was lying completely on the stone flor of the cave with his fur blankets covering some of his body. The feral child was disheveled and tried to wake up with a big open mouth yawn. He scratched his head as he tried to entangle himself from the fur.  
The boy looked around to see that neither green nor red and black dragons were here. He guess the two were out looking for some food. Cy decided to get up, as well, to greet the day.  
Sprawling out like a cat as he flexed his muscle. A few popping sounds were heard from different ligaments that rang through the empty cave. Cy slowly stood up as his long knotted, somewhat dreadlock hair, swept to his back and his hard feet touched the cold stone floor. The feral child headed out through the cave entrance to find some morning breakfast.  
XXXXXXXXXXX  
Back in Brookside, outside the town circle, was a small quiet house near the woods. This house was known by many to be owned by the great wood carver Max, Molly’s father. His work shop was in a large shed out back behind the house and near the woods. It was filled up with all kinds of wood ranging from oak to simple timber. He had all his carving tools and saws lined up along the outskirts of the shed’s walls for easy access and to make sure he had a place to put them back.   
Max definitely did not want to get hurt by one of his sharp tools. It was already dangerous enough by just having them laying around where people can access them. That’s why Max made sure to lock his doors to his workshop anytime he was gone in case one of the curious neighbor kids tried to get a look at all his new goodies.  
That happened a lot for Max since he did not only make tables, chairs, and other wooden furniture. The sixty year old man, also, made many little figurines and artwork as well. Ranging from a scenic view of a forest on a wood board to figures of animals and dragons. Those were always the kids’ favorite. They loved to play with the little knights Max made and have them battle it out with the dragons to save the princess. Max would laugh at the sight of it.   
Max remembered when Molly was like that. Except she would have her knight protect all the creatures of the forest, including dragons. No matter how many scary stories he tells her of the great forest monster she would always say that it was probable upset that people were invading its land or was just looking for a friend. Max would always laugh at her justice for the forest monster. But now, she was too old for such fairy tales. Saying “I’ve been in those woods all my life and haven’t seen any forest monster,” or Molly wood say “If there really was something that big, why hasn’t anyone caught it on camera?”   
Always wanting proof and never the fantasy. So when Molly became a forest ranger, it became the end of the dreaded Forest Monster stories.  
Until Molly began to question those stories of the fearsome creature again. It had been some many years since Max had gotten any of those kinds of questions.  
It was a normal Sunday morning and a few shop keepers were here to pick up their daily merchandise from Max.  
All the shop keepers loved Max’s merchandise and so did all their customers. That’s why on Sunday, of every third week of the month, the shop keepers would come by truck to collect and pay for Max’s fine merchandise.  
Max was helping put away a large, oak board with a picture of the forest that had three dragons flying in the sky over a large forest. On the back of the lead dragon was what looked to be the shape of a human. It was hard to tell if the human was wearing armor or just regular clothing but the picture did look breath taking to all eyes.   
It was the first time Max had to make something like this since most people his age were more into human battling monster like in medieval books and movie he had watched and read since he was a child. Chock it up to all those Dragon Rider movies and books that were out right now for little kids to watch. Because it caused one customer, from five hundred miles over, to order from Max to create a picture of a boy riding a dragon for his son’s eighth birthday.  
Max, of course, was happy to make something like that. It had taken him some time to get the boy on the dragon just right, for he had always created dragon and human separate. Man fighting beast had always been all the range when he was growing up. Max guessed that now it was about saving the planet and all its creatures and it would be kind of cool to ride a dragon. Too bad there would never be such a thing.  
Max was brought out of his thoughts when the front screen door slammed open and out came his lovely daughter Molly in her green ranger uniform. She held her hat at her side and over her shoulders was her old, ratty, tan high density thick cotton canvas backpack that she once carried to school.   
Molly was heading to the car when she stopped and saw the men trying to carefully place one of Max’s art piece in the truck. It was a nice piece, but something she had never seen her father draw or make. “That’s new.”  
Max looked back at the wooden picture before turning to look at Molly. “Ya, some Dad wanted it done for their kid’s birthday. I think I did a fine job with it.”  
It wasn’t a look Molly was giving that seemed mocking, but more of curiosity. Something Max hadn’t seen for a long time on his daughter’s face. Molly would usually just roll her eyes at anything fantasy what every Max draw or create, Molly would say that he should make real animals for kids to love.  
The human on the dragon was what drew Molly attention. The human looked to be a male, but she could not tell if he was wearing armor, since all her other human drawing wore armor with dragons, or if the boy had just regular clothing. But as she eyes zoomed in on the picture, the figure just made her think of that boy in the forest. What if it wasn’t a monster behind the boy? But the famous dragon her father always told her from his stories.   
“You okay honey?” Max was a little worried about his daughter. The doctor said she was fine, but ever since yesterday Max would always see Molly on the computer looking up things online about how a human would survive in the woods on their own. Max would joke and say she should watch those ‘I Survive’ shows on Animal Planet to see how it works. But what Max expected was a mock or a joke about his stupid idea, not a “Sure, I’ll check it out.” It kind of frighten Max inside to see his daughter act this way.  
Molly kept looking at the wooden art piece before it was fully put in the van. It brought her out of the trance, but not out of curiosity. For Molly just had more and more questions. But then her cell went off as Molly took out her phone to see who it was and it was someone from the forest station from Brookside Park Molly was stationed out.   
The ranger could not help but let out sigh for she knew what this call was about. “Hey Steve. Let me guess, they’re at it again.”  
“Yup.” On the other line was a male voice that sounded very annoyed about what was transpiring in their lovely park. “I figured you wanted to head over there and get your morning started by yelling at you fiancée’s workers.”  
Molly let out a chuckle, for Steve and her knew that Charlie would take her more seriously than if Steve were to head over there and talk to the man himself. Not because she was his fiancée but because Molly was the only one who would stand up to Mark and his cronies. Mark didn’t scare her one bit and if Molly could, she would sock Mark in the face. She did that once when she was in second grade. It was back in the playground at school when little Mark thought it was a great idea to pick on a little girl and her pig tails. But one day. Wham! Molly hit Mark right in the kisser. After that, Mark never forgave Molly for humiliating him in front of everyone. Molly knew that one day Mark would get her back, she just hoped he didn’t used Charlie to get to her.  
Speaking of Charlie, Molly headed over to her jeep and climbed in. “I’ll head over there now and have a talk.”  
“Good luck.” Steve could be heard sighing in relief before the line had ended.  
Molly started her forest, green jeep and was about to head out when she was stopped by her father tapping on the passenger window. The ranger rolled down the window and gave Max a questionable look as to why he was stopping her from leaving.  
“Let me guess,” Mac already knew where Molly was heading.” You’re going to the Mill for a small chat with your boyfriend.”  
“You got it.” Molly let out a huff in frustration. “I wish that big idiot would get it through his thick skull already.”  
“Yeah, I wish that too.” Max rested his elbow on the windowsill as he nodded in agreement.  
“You know I’m talking about Mark Danvered, right?” Molly gave her father a deadpan look.  
“So was I.” Max just shrugged his shoulders, as if it were to justify his words.  
But Molly knew her father meant Charlie. She had no idea why her father did not like Charlie at all. She knew that her father had beef with the Colin’s, heck everyone in town did, over what Charlie’s grandfather did. But Charlie was different. He actually cared about the forest. Hel, the man took Phytopathology, the study of plants, in college as a minor. What kind of business man did that?  
Usually lumber men just learned on the job or from their fathers how to run a mill. Take down every tree in your path and make lots of money. That’s how it was with old Mr. Colins and that’s what caused him to fall in to ruins.   
But Charlie was the opposite. He had no experience except for the books he read, classes he took, and the employees that worked for him. It was a miracle that this mill was still running like it did. But with all that he did, Charlie was doing a fantastic job. He kept to his lines that allowed him to cut down whatever trees he wanted. He made sure deliveries were met and his employees were happy. The mill owner even made sure to plant tree from where he cut to keep the forest alive. No owner did that before. It made Molly happy to see that her forest was being taken care of.   
No business man in the logging would do that. They would just cover it up and lie. They would even bribe or scare off people so no one would admit that they did anything wrong. That’s what Mr. Colins did those many years ago.   
Which is why Molly was so in love with Charlie. Max did not have any resent to the marriage or anything, but just got into a lot of fights with Charlie. It made Molly wonder if her father was doing it on purpose to punish something Charlie’s grandfather did. Whenever she asked, her father would just ignore her or say she was saying she was over sensitive and that he was just trying to scare Charlie into making sure he would treat her right.  
Molly let out another annoyed sigh before she said, “Goodbye Dad.” And sped off in the direction of the Mill.  
XXXXXXXXXXX  
Charlie was having a good morning so far. He had his coffee and was taking a nice stroll through the work yard of logs and wood. Everyone had their hard hats and was working diligently with stacking and placing the logs down to be processed and then place on a truck to be taken to the Saw Mill to be taken and cut into pieces of wood.  
But that all changed when, lord and behold, his fiancée’s green jeep rolled up to his office. Charlie knew Molly was not here for a visit. Especially when the woman was in her ranger uniform. It just mean someone, Mark, had done something illegal, again, and Charlie would have to go and yell at said person, Mark, for doing it. The thirty year old male let out a sigh as he watched Molly get out of her jeep and make her way towards him.  
“Hey honey.” Charlie tried to keep this calm as possible. “You’re here early.”  
“Charrlliiieee.” Molly’s tone was long and edgy. She had her hands on her hip as she slammed her car door with such force it made Charlie wonder how the old car’s window did not shatter. She gave the log owner a death glare that caused the man to gulp in fear.  
Charlie could already hear his men snickering and oohing behind him. The cautious male just rolled his eyes at his workers and guided Molly to his office for a little privacy from some probing eyes.   
XXXXXXXXXXX  
The door slammed shut behind the couple as the old office smell hit their noses. Charlie had little time to clean and tidy the messy office. Piles of paper and dust occupied each nook and cranny on both Charlie’s desk, filing case, and window.  
“One day, you’re going to lose something important in all this mess.” Molly had to urge herself not to go around and start cleaning Charlie’s desk. She was not a neat freak but even Molly had some standards when its came to messy.  
“What makes you think I haven’t already?” Charlie tried to clear a space on one of the chairs in front of his desk for Molly to sit down. He decided to put the papers and folders on another stack of paper on his desk  
Molly was about to reply to his statement but before she could, the stack fell over and onto the carpet floor. Charlie let out an annoyed sigh before he bent down to pick them all up.  
Molly could not help but roll her eyes as, she too, bent down to assist Charlie in his dilemma of flooded paperwork. She picked up log papers to paycheck distribution before the ranger saw one little piece that caught her eye. It was a log of all the workers and where they were cutting. There was a lot of big red marks and circle including some names written on the side.  
A fire of rage burned in Molly because one of the names on this list was Mark Deverned. The other were his cronies. The ranger glared at the names with a fiery passion. “What’s this” Molly tried to control her anger in her voice.  
Charlie at first had no idea what she was talking about, but when he saw the paper with the red lines he drew in Molly’s hand, the log owner definitely knew what was coming next. “Is this why you’re here?”  
“Of course this is why I’m here!” Molly could not help but shout. “I got another call because a certain, Mark Deverned, is causing trouble again!”  
“Hey! I’m trying my best here!” Even Charlie knew there was no reason to take his anger out on Molly. The real person, who should have been fired a long time ago, was the man who had been a thorn in Charlie’s side since the day Mark Deverned walked into his office claiming he and a few guys would gladly work for Charlie. The owner should have known from the start that there should have been something odd about the man. But in the beginning Charlie was new to the job and town and didn’t know the whole story with Mark. Why didn’t he fire Mark, many guessed it was something to do with feeling sorry and that Charlie could change the man. Even some of Mark’s other coworkers would vouch for the man, saying he was having a bad day and would stop. And Charlie would fall for the plea every time.  
The two began to bicker back and forth when who would come knocking at the door, but the man responsible for the couple’s quarreling. Both turned their heads in the direction and gave a big yell of “What!” to see Mark Deverned.  
“Sorry to disturb you, boss.” Mark’s voice was shy and sweet as he tried to act innocent. “You called me.”  
Molly had to resist the urge not to throw up. She knew Mark was acting was fake. He was just trying to seem like the victim in all this.  
“Not now Mark!” Charlie sat in his chair in anger. Did he even ask Mark to come in his office? It was so early that he did not know what to think anymore.  
Molly could see that Charlie had enough of their disagreement for the day. It did not help that Mark was here to ease drop on them. “Mark, can you just wait outside while I finish up here?”  
Mark just shuffled around the front of the office as he looked at the pictures the adore Charlie’s wall. “Don’t mind me.” But when the bully looked up, he saw his boss giving him a stern glare that would scare a normal man to tears. But all Mark did was shrug his shoulders and walked to the door. Once on the other side, he closed the door, but not all the way. He sat in the chair closes to the door as he peeked through the watch the two talk.  
“I got to get to work. Please deal with this.” Molly did not like to beg but she really wished Charlie would do something about Mark. She watched her fiancée covered the bridge of his nose with his two fingers before letting out a nod. Letting out a sigh she reached into her pocket and pulled out something that she wanted Charlie to do for her. “Can you do a big favor for me?”  
Charlie looked up at Molly with an eye brow raised. He saw that in her hand was a disposable camera. “What?”  
“I just want to see if any of the pictures I took, while over there, worked.” Molly muttered some of the words so Charlie would not hear, but she was unfortunate do to Charlie’s impressive hearing.  
“From when you were on an island that has the ability to cancel out technology.” Charlie stared at the woman in disbelief.  
“I’m not saying it worked, but I don’t have time since Steve and I are going through the forest from morning to night and you’re going to town later to drop some things off. I was wondering.” Molly looked at Charlie in hope the man would say yes.  
Charlie looked at Molly’s begging eyes and let out a sigh. He could never say no to her. “Fine.”  
“Thank you.” Molly went over to give Charlie a kiss before she turned to the door. “I’ll just put it by your jacket and head out.”  
Charlie watched Molly put the camera in his pocket before he too got up from his chair. “I’ll help you back out. We been having some problems with people leaving logs in the middle of the road that makes it impossible to park by my office anymore.”  
The two made their way out of the office towards Molly’s jeep, not before Charlie locked his office door and told Mark to stay put. Mark watched the couple leave and listened as they climbed down the wooden steps. A dark smile crept of the evil man’s face as he got up and made his way to Charlie’s office door. Fishing through his pockets, he found what he was looking for and pulled out a ring of keys. He had many keys. One for his car, two for his house and shed, and of course five to various places that Mark and his cronies could sneak into. They were not stupid and did not steal anything that can go amiss, but there was one object that he knew Charlie would forget and it was that camera Molly had.   
Just like Charlie had said, there was no way for anything to be on this camera from the Dead Zone, but that did not mean there weren’t any other juicy pictures on this camera. It was a good thing Mark knew someone who was good at extracting some photos for him.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Back on the isolated island, Cy was walking through the woods looking for something to eat. His sore muscles ached a bit but what else could he do. He needed to look for nourishment for his empty stomach and since Leaf was gone, the feral teen would have to look for food for himself. There was no way Core would help him scavange food. The alpha dragon would growl at him and say ‘find you own damn food.’ The black and red dragon would then fly off to who knows where to maybe come back to the den by the end of the night.  
The matted hair boy had no idea what to do with his dominate brother. Cy and Leaf would try to get along with the bully of a dragon but there was no pleasing him. Time and time again the dragon would be semi kind two the duo. Bring left over food he had caught that he didn’t want to finish and didn’t want to let any scavengers to eat it. It was odd but who was Cy to complain about free food. Even if it was the lower half off the animal it was still good meat for the winter.  
Forest Dragons, what he wouldn’t give for that rabbit he had caught yesterday. Cy could already guessed that it had been taken by another animal and was dining on its rich tender meat. Oh how the dragon boy wished for a piece.   
The feral child stopped in his tracks when he heard some twigs snap in the distance. The boy scanned the area for any sign of what it could be. He hoped it was small game or better yet a deer. The thick forest and leafy tree made it perfect for any vegetarian animal to come by and feast. Cy crouched down into an attack positon. If it was game, the feral child would be ready to attack the creature and bring it home for supper.   
But the only problem was that it wasn’t a simple deer that was walking through the woods. It was that stupid brown wolf again. It stalked towards Cy in a crouch positon as it began to snarl at the boy.   
Cy could not help but laugh. Even without his brother, the feral child could handle one wolf easily. Even with his battered body, this joke of a canine will beg for him not to hurt him once Cy got through with him. The feral child let out some small, mocking barks at the wolf as a way to say ‘I’m ready.’   
This caused the brown wolf to smirk a little. The stupid juvenile human thought he was alone. The canine let out a loud howl as the boy’s eyes widen in fear. Four more wolves appeared next to the brown one. They too began to snarl and bark at the human child, for Cy knew he was in for it.  
With Cy’s semi sore body and the powerful claws and teeth of the canines, the boy was no match for these dominant beast. The feral teen had no choice but to run.   
Cy’s feet pounded into the ground as he sprinted as fast as he could through the tree covered forest. He had to get away. They would tear him apart in a matter of seconds and leave nothing but his bones. Thoughts were running through Cy’s mind of what he could do and how could he lose them. He needed to think, think of way to get them of his tail.   
The boy dodged rocks and jumped over fallen trees as he tried to navigate himself through the woods. While trying to outrun the wolves the boy tried to look around for anything to climb and get away. The problem was that all the trees around him were both too small and thin to hold his weight or had no branches on the bottom for Cy to climb up. The only thing the dragon boy could do was to run as fast as he could and call for help.   
Cy tried to roar to his brothers for help but none had reply to him. Was he too far away? Were they too busy to help? The last one wasn’t true for Leaf. The big green, gentle dragon would always come to his brother’s call. But then again, the green plush dragon would always follow him about. And now here Cy was, alone with five wolves chasing after him.  
Cy must have been lost to where he was going for once the trees became less and less the forest opened up to a long, giant cliff up head. The feral boy’s feet touched hard stone as he came to a halt. Looking down over the side he saw that they had reached end of the isolated island. The bottom of the cliff was the rushing river that consumed all side of the forest island.   
The boy looked down with heavy breath as he gulped at the sight of the roaring water. His eyes only widened at the sound of growling behind him. He slowly turned to see the wolf pack behind him ready to pounce at the boy at any moment. Fear downed on fifteen year old Cy for his life might be cut short. He only had one last try to make as he cupped his hands to his face and gave the biggest roar he could give.  
The loud roar echoed through the region causing some bird behind them to fly. But only those creatures had left the area. For the wolves staid and no help came. Cy looked around for a weapon to only see pebbles of rock all around him. By time the boy looked up, the brown jumped at him.  
The Cy had only a short time to reach before the canine’s teeth sunk their way into the boy’s arm. He stumbled backwards as both he and the wolf fell off the cliff and down into the frigid running water. They both tried to claw their way up as they tried to reach the surface for air. Both took a gasp of air but not before they were forced down again by the rough water. It pushed and pulled the two in all different directions before they were lost down the river.   
On the cliffs the lone pack watched. Neither cared that one of their own was taken down as well.


	5. Chapter 5: New World

Chapter 5:  
It was late into the evening and Steve and Molly were walking down the dirt path to make sure all was in order. Camping season was ending and hunt season would soon start. So they made sure all the picnic tables and campsite were clear and everything was clean. Quite a few times they had trouble with the local teens coming here and leaving beer bottles and food wrappers on the ground. It had taken hours to clean it up, but somehow they had succeeded.   
But so far everything was nice and organized and ready for the hunters to come. Even though Molly was against hunter and killing wild life, she still had to remember that she was a forest ranger not an environmentalist. Rangers just had to make sure no one got killed or shot and that people didn’t over hunt in the woods. Molly just sighed at the thought. It was true her father would hunt. Heck, he would bring home deer and fish so they didn’t have to shop at the store often for steak. So if people wanted to hunt then so be it.  
The sound of hooting could be heard from above and Molly looked up to see her favorite barn owl Sally. She had named the small bird ever since she spotted it in the area five days ago. She always kept tract of the owl to make sure it was okay and was alive and thriving.   
Molly gave the bird a smile as she reached for her phone to take a picture. She forgot her camera back at the car but the female ranger knew that her father would be very happy to have a picture of a barn owl. He always loved it when Molly collect pictures of animals for him to carve into his wooden figures and artwork.   
Molly smiled to herself as she got ready to snap a photo. She had the camera lined up and was ready to click when an ominous sound rang through the region. The sound scared the poor owl, as Sally flew away as fast as she could.  
“What was that?” Steve came over to where Molly was. He had his hand on his gun, at his side holster, ready for any animal attack.  
“No idea.” It was true, Molly had never heard of anything like that in her life. But the urge to know was pulling her towards it.   
The female ranger sprinted down the forest dirt path and towards where she think she heard the sound. Steve was right behind her as they made their way to the end of the forest. They ended up by the rocky stream that people would use to fish. The big rocky shore line the water as the two rangers scanned for anything strange.  
“What’s that?” Molly saw on her right were two strange fur like objects were along the rocky shore.  
Steve told the woman to get behind him and they slowly made their way towards the strange creatures. Fear was inside the old ranger for it could be bear and its cub or something far worse. They had reach the first ball of fur to see that it was a dead brown wolf. It had bruises and marks on its body which meant that it must have come from downstream. Poor wolf, it must have gotten stuck in the current and died from being all mashed up by it.   
“Never seen a wolf this far down.” Steve put his gun down since the canine was obvious dead and would not be attacking them. “Shame that it’s no more.”  
Molly wasn’t listening to Steve at the moment. Instead she was more focused on the object not too far away from it. She got a little closer to it and put her hand on her gun. Even if the wolf was dead did not mean this thing could be dead as well. When she got near it did Molly realize what was before her. The female ranger took her hand off her gun and rushed to the fallen body.   
“Steve! Call an ambulance!” Molly placed her hand down on the body to try and find a pulse.  
Steve pulled out his radio but not before he saw what Molly was next to. It was a boy. Looked to be a teenager. But what was really strange was his matted brown hair and shredded pants. The boy wore no shoes and shirt but his body was decorated in scars and bruises while his nails were long a jagged. His arm looked to be bleeding from the big bite mark along his lower right arm.  
“What on earth happened to him?” Steve was in shock to see the boy in this state. He wasn’t even sure if he should call the hospital or the funeral home. “Is he even alive?”  
Molly on the other hand, kept searching. Search for a pulse or some sign of life in this child. She was about to perform CPR when she felt something along the side of the boy’s neck. A pulse. A small one but still there. This kid was definitely a fighter.   
“There’s a pulse. We need to get to the hospital fast.” Molly checked his body for another injury and broken bones but felt nothing which was a good sign. At least she hope it was. They may have to call a chopper if they could not move the body.  
“They said they are coming as soon as they can.” Steve pulled the walky-talky from his chest as he tried to get more information from the other line.  
Molly looked down at the boy, “You’re going to be fine, help is on the way.” She had no idea if he could hear her but she hoped her voice would comfort the injured boy in some way.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
“Cy”   
It sounded like his mother’s voice. Even after her death, the boy remembered her voice as if she was talking to him this morning. She had a kind and soothing voice that would ease any fears or nightmares that young Cy would have. The feral child would always have a warm child-like smile on his face whenever the boy heard the female dragon’s voice. It made him always want to cuddle closer into her body for warm and comfort, the child always felt safe in his mother’s arms.  
“Cy-ler”  
Cy-ler? Who was Cy-ler? That was not his name. His named had always been Cy. Well, ever since his dragon mother named him Cy when she found him in the woods, she had always called him by that name.   
But the questions did cross the boy’s mind ever so often. If his mother found him in the woods, then did he have another family? Did he have another name before he met his dragon family? And who was he before any of this? It was those very thoughts that appeared in his mind that made Cy dive deeper into unwanted memories. Memories that were stored so deep inside the teen’s mind. It caused those thoughts to only appear to him in a form of a dream.  
A flashback hit him just like the one from this morning. He was just a boy of five and he was in a car with two humans a male and a female. This time he could see a little more of their faces.   
One, male, no older than the age of thirty. He had weird metal frames on his eyes that Cy remembered they were called something like glasses. For people with bad or not so good eye sight to see. His hair was a little lighter then Cy’s. It was long, reaching down to his shoulder with a small beard of the same color. His eyes were kind and patient the way he would peer back and forth towards the rear mirror to check on young Cy. The five year old felt comfortable with the way the man kept glance at him. Deep down he knew that the male was somewhat of a guardian to his younger self, A father figure he would guess. Someone he knew would do no harm to him and will even give his life to protect little Cy.  
But the woman in the passenger seat was a different story. She had the same nose and hair color as Cy. Her hair was long reaching down to her mid back with that strange red triangle like fabric on her head and was pulled back to the middle of her hair to make her seem as if she had no bangs. Like the male, they both adorn camp-like outfits such as jeans or Carpenter pants with flannel or cotton shirts. They both looked nice and talked about something with going to the woods and it’s been such a long time since they had a family outing. The woman would look back at Cy with a kind smile that the boy remembered feeling with his dragon mother, Mara.  
This caused too many mixed feeling to ragd inside the boy that made Cy unable to tell if this was too much for his teen or five year old self. On one hand his teens told him not fall for the woman’s falseness, while his five years old self kept telling him that the female was like the male. Someone who was nurturing. A soother who would protect him from all bad dreams and take away all the boy’s anxiety for the fears that would come ahead. A protector from all harm. Something Cy felt with Mara.   
The five year old felt like he was having a panic attack inside his dream. But that’s when he heard it. The sound of humming of an old song that he remembered his dragon mother always sing. He looked up and saw that it was actually coming from the woman. But that was impossible. Only his dragon mother knew that song. Only he could know that song.   
Cy looked up at the woman and met with kind, loving eyes. She smiled at him with a warm smile that melt away the panic that had stricken him. The five year old seemed to relax. Cy felt calm and relaxed than he had in long time.   
It was different with this woman. If she was his mother, he wondered. Even if it was a memory, Cy wanted to know. The five year old reached out his hand to grasp the woman’s but something unexpected happened.  
The first sound was thunder, but the sky was clear and the sun was bright. Then the car started shaking as if there was an earthquake going on outside. Then the cars right side was covered in dark thick mud and dirt. Everyone started to panic as the male driver tried to get the car to go faster. It was impossible, but the male’s adrenaline took over and he thought that if he made the car go, it could somehow push them up and out of the dirt. It work somewhat but the car was still sliding.  
The only thing little five year old could see was the car tumbled to the left as it began to tip over and all the boy could remember next was darkness from blacking out.  
XXXXXXXXXX  
The jolt of the car accident in the dream cause the unconscious feral teen to wake up. He did not spring awake, but his eyes popped open in shock as Cy felt his heart pound inside his body with such tremor. The memory flooded him in such a way that he had to take a full five minutes to collect himself. It was very frightful and it made him wonder if it was a nightmare or a memory. Because if it was a memory, then how did he survive such an event.  
Collecting himself, Cy finally realized the situation he was in. He was not on some dirt ground, for the object he was on was soft and felt as if the teen had sunk a good inch. It was nothing like his brothers’, Leaf, fur for there was no bone or muscle and the rhythm of breathing was not there. Next was the fact that there was some sort of thin, flat like material along his body that kept him somewhat warm. It certainly different from his furs since it had no hide or bushy hair to keep the warmth in. Something square was hugging his body as well. It was nothing like his pants that he adorn for so many years. This only cover part of his body, Cy’s upper body. It encase his upper arms and ran down to his knees. It felt sort of similar to the blanket but much more stiff and uncomfortable.   
Next Cy decided to look around with his eyes he noticed the den he was in was very strange. One it did not have stone floors, wall, or ceiling. Its walls were a bright, ugly, ivory that made the den brighter than it needed to be. There was a strange opening with this clear like substance on it. Two in fact that looked to be showing the outside world.   
Cy slowly sat up as he tried to get a better view of everything around him. But something was wrong. His head felt light. Lighter than it had ever been since he was a child and his hair was short. Tracing his hands to his head, he felt it. His long hair, his extra blanket for the winter, was gone. There was only a little left of it that gave him a sort of spike like look to him.   
Cy was about to reach up with his other hand when he noticed that he could not bend his arm all the way. Looking down at his arm, he saw some sort of strange string like object coming from his arm and hooked up to a bizarre metal pole with a bag holding liquid form on it.  
The other thing was this abnormal clam like object on his finger. It did not hurt but it was connect to this box that kept beeping at him. He watched the strange box make these weird lines on it then beep right after. When his heart quicken, the box beeped more. Curiosity got the better of the teen as he tried to calm down and slow his heart. He watched at the line became slow once more and continued with their steady rhythm.   
‘Well that interesting,’ Cy thought as he continued his journey around the unusual den.   
The feral teen slowly got off the bed and made his way over to the window to see if he could find out where he was. But was halted when two thing pulled at his arms. Looking down, the fifteen year old remembered that he was still attached to the strange object. He carefully examined the one that had the liquid in it and slowly took it out as carefully as he could. He had gotten stabbed once by a porcupine and knew the dangers of pulling an object to fast and not carefully out of one’s body. For wrong move could cause someone to bleed to death. That’s what happen to the unfortunate fox.   
The good news was, only a little bit of blood followed and stopped. But the clap, Cy decided to leave it on. If it made a lot of noise when his heart rate went up, he did not want to hear the thing go off if he had no heart beat at all. Plus, he wasn’t sure who had captured him. Even if all he could smell was strong, powerful sent that burned his nose and watered his eyes. It was stronger on the floor, so Cy decided to try to stand more straight to get far away from the smell as he possible could.   
The voices became a little louder, as if they were standing outside his door. The teenager slowly made his way towards the door, with soft steps so that it would not alarm his captures. He reached the strange wooden door with a see through window for him to take a quick peek through. He looked out to see four strange people gathered around talking about something to do with the hope of some kid being okay. Of course, Cy knew the kid they were talking about was himself. Thank the great mother tree that Cy was able to understand human speech from all the practicing his did with human words. If he had just spoken dragon when he was a kid, he would never be able to understand the full situation he was in.  
“Are you sure there’s nothing else you can do?” It was that strange red hair woman again. The one he saved from getting eaten by Core. Was this where she lived?  
“I’m surprised if he even wakes up at all.” It was a brown colored man, who talked a little faster than the other. It was hard for Cy to keep up with since he only knew the vocabulary of a five year old. But he guessed that his human parents had touch him some advance words for he understood some of what the man was talking about. “He has old and new scars all over his body. He had some water in his lungs that seemed to clear up. The bite on his arm was washed and clean with no sign of infection. But watch shocks me the most is that giant bruise on his back.”  
“Is it serious?” There was another man decorated in the same uniform as the man next to him. Dark brown jacket with weird yellow marks on it, including some kind of shiny golden metal that stood out. He talked with concern but authority, as if he wanted the whole story as the man next to him began to scribble down on some brown board.  
“Maybe he was hurt from the water?” Said the younger of the decorated men.   
“Looks more like abuse to me” The one in the white coat looked farther into his white papers. “As if he was shoved against something. Like a tree.”  
“That’s awful.” The woman was appealed by the new she just heard. “Do you think it’s broken? Cause when I checked….”  
“Nothing broken, which is pure luck to me. I mean you found him by the river yes. Next to that dead wolf.”   
“Do you think the kid fought the wolf?” The older officer didn’t know whether to take the doc serious or not. He had heard of human survival but that was a big wolf for the kid to take on with his bare hands.  
“No, I think it was the rushing water that killed the wolf and almost killed the boy.” The doctor let out a sigh as he looked farther into his note. “Another thing I find strange is that hair of his.”  
“A lot of people grow their hair that long.” The younger officer was explaining that his cousin had long hair as well.  
“No this long and matted I hope. It looks like it hasn’t been cut and combed in years.” The guy in the white coat held up a piece of Cy’s hair that he had cut off. “The only time I’ve seen hair was on those Animal Cop shows with abused animals.”  
They each looked at the hair in awe. The lone piece could weight nothing but 5 pounds in their hands. It must have been far worse with kid’s actually hair.   
“Man, he must feel a whole lot better with this all off.” The younger officer whistled as he held the clump of matted hair.  
Inside the room, Cy was feeling the back of his head for his missing hair. These humans had no idea what they were talking about. Yes it felt nice, but what was he going to do in the winter without his extra blanket. Yes, he wished he had taken better care of it but what could he have used to keep it groomed. It’s not like his brother, Leaf, hadn’t tried to help him keep it tamed. The large green plush dragon would try and try again to lick Cy clean when he was younger but when Cy reached a certain age he deemed it unnecessary to be babied by his brother. His hair did bother him in the summer when it got warm but it’s not like he could just cut it. What if it took too long to grow back? Winter was dangerous for the young human without a fur coat. His hair was the only extra layer he could use.  
“How long do you think it will take him to wake up?’ The female officer in the green coat asked.  
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he woken up two days from now.” The doctor concluded. “Give the boy’s body sometime to rest.”  
Unfortunately, the Doctor’s diagnosis was wrong. Cy was wake and fully alert to everything he saw and was hearing from the small group of humans.  
The one brown, male human began to say his good byes as he walked away from the groups. The younger officer looked over his notes before he said he was going call this one in and turned to leave. All that was left was the red hair woman and the other officer. The woman walked back and forth as if she was having a hard time deciding on something.  
“How long do you think he was out there for?” The woman began to question. She had never seen something like this before. Heck, she was having her doubts the kid was real at one point and thought he was just something her mind made up. But now here he was, somewhat alive and looked to be in worse shape than any lost victim she had ever seen.  
“Probably years. Runaway?” The officer leaned back against the wall as he gave a sigh. “Think I’ll call social services. They handle cases like these.”  
“But what if it makes it worse. He’s probable frighten. Has no idea what’s going on?” Molly had many thoughts going through her mind of what could happen. “If this is an abuse case. What makes them think that he won’t lash out and try to harm them? Or worse, what if they send him back. You know that happens from time to time.”  
“Molly, these are professionals. They will make sure he is looked after properly and have no harm come to him.” The officer tried to reassure her. “How about this, when the boy wakes up, you’ll be the first one to call.”  
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to take him away just yet.”   
Take him away. That caused alarms to go off in Cy’s head. He could not be taken away. He needed to get back to his brothers. If he didn’t….  
That’s when the beeps became fast, as Cy pulled off the annoying clamp and darted for the window. He wacked himself against the see through glass as he tried to figure out how to open it. The alarms began to blare as the boy darted his eyes until he found a strange latch on top.  
In the halls, Molly and the officer rushed to the room that held the strange boy. They tried to open the door and noticed it was a little stuck. The officer gave it a big push with his shoulder and the door opened up. What flew to the floor was the heart monitor that somehow got stuck in the door.   
Inside the hospital room, it was empty. The sheets were crumped together and the I.V was on the floor squirting liquid from it open nozzle and onto the floor. The heart monitor beeped away even with it on the floor. The smell of disinfectant was gone and the wind from the open window brought in the smell of gas and forest.   
Molly rushed to the window as she tried to see if she could see the boy anywhere. Behind her, the female ranger could hear Officer Carol calling for all cars, a patient had escaped the hospital.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Cy was far off from the strange place as he possible could go. That was because, when he jumped out the window he expected to land on the hard ground. No, instead he landed on some metal flat surface object that was now driving at 30 miles per hour. Looking over the sides he saw that they had at least a hundred more miles before they reached the forest. Which in the direction they were going would seemed to take only a matter of minutes.  
That is until the strange vehicle turned on its sirens, almost causing Cy to go death as he covered his ears from the horrible sound, and it turned left. It was going in the complete opposite of the direction he wanted to go. The fifteen year old began to panic. He saw that they were heading to the human village that was made up of tall stone houses and more strange vehicles that he once saw when he was a child. There all different kinds of people and places that made Cy looked around vigorously to take it all in. It was all so strange and nothing he had ever seen before.  
But it was not only Cy who was taking in the sight. Some people actually looked up to see a strange kid in a hospital uniform riding on top of an ambulance. Some pointed while other gasped at the sight.  
That’s when Cy knew he needed to find another transportation. Not because people could see him, but because the moving box under him was slowing down. Scanning the area, he noticed another large rectangular box coming up next to him. It was a little bigger than the box he was on, but he took the chance and jumped.   
People watched and gasped as they watched the suicidal kid jump from the ambulance to the big twelve wheel truck. That were in for quite a shock when they saw the kid make it. He pulled his body all the way on as he disappeared on top.  
Cy was quite lucky to have made it. The only part of his body that was off what his feet. The air currant was much different from the smaller car but since he was used to riding on Leaf’s back, the teen was able to pull himself up and try to find a spot to sit so he would not fall off. He looked all around him and saw that they were almost out of town and heading back on track to the woods. Finally, Cy would be back home and away from these crazy humans. He just hoped neither brother noticed he was missing.  
Cy thought of home and if he even should tell his brother, Leaf, about the crazy adventure he had. But, his thoughts were halted when a strange sound that the feral child had heard once when he had rescued the red hair woman. Glancing behind him, he saw three strange like cars with red and blue lights flashing above them coming at them. He hoped that none of them had seen him for he felt as though he was too high to be seen.  
However, the truck driver looked out the window to see the police cars coming towards him. The driver thought that it was because there was an incident somewhere so they were trying to get by. He tried to slow down and move to the side to allow them to pass. But one came up right next to him window and with his megaphone, the officer told him to stop the truck. The truck driver gave a questionable look. He had all his paperwork in order and he had nothing illegal in his truck. Deciding not to get into any more trouble with the officer, the driver slowed the truck.  
Cy felt the truck begin to slow down as it dawned on him that they had saw him. That means Cy had no choice. He needed to jump down before they caught him. When the truck finally slowed down enough, Cy jumped from truck to another car and another until he finally reach the concrete side walk.  
The boy dashed into a run as he felt the hard concrete on his feet. He had never felt ground like this. The only thing that was hard like this was that fake rock from the bridge. But even if it was hard, the fake rock was not smooth like this sidewalk.   
Cy tried to stay far away from ever human he came across. Most tried to capture him while other stared in fear of the strange child. The feral child made another dash down a corner until he came to a wooden fence between two buildings. He was trapped. Cy was about to double back when two cop cars cut off the path back to the street as they boxed the boy in. Out came four officers in those strange dark brown uniforms Cy had seen back in the hospital.  
“It’s alright kid.” It was the older cop from the hospital. “No one was going to hurt you.”  
Cy began to panic. He remembered a scenario quiet like this. Except it was a pack of wolves that had sent him off a cliff and far away from his brothers. Well, Cy was not going to be in the situation again. And he was not going to allow them to take him anywhere away from his family.   
The feral child cupped his hands before he let out his best dragon roar. It caused many of the men to back away in fright at what the young boy had done. No normal human could have made a sound like that.   
But Cy wasn’t finished. Knowing that just making a dragon roar was not just going to scare these men away, the feral child got into a crouch position before he got ready to attack. He noted each man’s weight and size before he calculated the best way to defeat each one. The boy watched the men upright themselves before each one charged. Cy jumped over the first man before knocking is fist into one man’s face. His feet touch the ground as he gave a powerful kick to the other man’s leg, causing the officer to fall and hit his face on the hard ground. Cy was about to make a break for it but two arms came around the boy’s torso and pinned the feral child’s arms to his body. Cy looked behind him to see the large man give a grin as if he was saying ‘Got ya.’ But this only caused the boy to smirk as he used as much strength to pull the man forward and fall to the ground. Out of instinct the man let go and tried to reach for the ground to stop his fall. This gave Cy two second to quickly move out of the man’s arms and out of the way.   
The feral child tumbled to the floor as he saw all the officers on the ground and try to readjust themselves. Cy looked back at the scene he had caused to see that not only the fallen officers, but that there was quite a crowd of humans on the other side of the cars. All were in awe and shock of what transpired. One such human caught the boy’s attention was the red hair woman. She stared at him more in fear that he had gotten hurt than what he had done to the officers. Weird.   
But Cy had no time for this. The boy looked back at the wooden fence to see that the wood had difference slots of rows going along the wall as if there were piled up that way. Taking this chance while the men were disoriented, Cy used his hands and feet and slowly made his way up the fence and onto the other side. He ignored the voice he heard behind him, telling him to stop.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
Back on the isolated island, Leaf had finally returned to Cy and his den. He knew his brother must be very hunger after green dragon had been gone for so long. He thought about waking his human brother up to join him in savaging for food but decided against it. The feral child had enough to worry about with his sore and battered body. So Leaf decided it would be best if his brother just slept the day away.   
The gentle dragon had mostly been gone all morning, but he had finally retrieved food fit for the king of the forest. After Leaf had his breakfast, a bush of berries and leaves, the green dragon had required a large fish from the river. It had stopped flapping a while ago and was easier to carry.  
The dragon popped his head, first, into their home as he hoped the fish in his mouth would be a great surprise for his brother. But he was not greeted with the joy of Cy’s face. He was not welcomed at all by the wild teen. For Cy was not here to say anything to the dragon.   
The green dragon raised and eye-brow as he looked around the cave. Dropping the smelly fish, he gave the ground a sniff for any sign of the boy may still here. But the sent was faint. Cy had not been here since this morning which caused the kind dragon to worry. Cy was not fully healed, what if he had gotten in trouble.  
The green plush dragon let out a small yelping roar. He perked up his ears to listen for his brother to call back but heard nothing. This only caused more worry for the frantic dragon, when he heard nothing. Thus, he knew that he would have no choice but to go out and find Cy himself. The only question was where to start. The gentle dragon guessed he would have to sniff the boy out. He could have not gotten that far and was probable just around the bend waiting for his dragon brother to join him so they could return home.  
Unfortunately, the green plush dragon was met with nothing. For about an hour now, he had smell nothing but tree, leaves and dirt. But then, there it was. The scent of his brother, but it was not alone. Leaf growled as the smell of wolves was in the air. But it was not any ordinary wolf , it was that brown wolf from yesterday. The one that had been after Cy since the boy embarrassed the dumb canine in front of his pack. This was definitely not good.   
Leaf began to sniff more around the area and began to notice more smells of wolf, which meant the pack had come to help with the brown wolf vengeance. That would mean Cy was in trouble. Leaf began to quicken his pace as he followed the scent to where the boy could have gone. He hoped his brother was smart and climbed a tree or something.   
But the green plush dragon was not so lucky. Leaf came to a halt when he came to the end of the cliffs looking down to the rushing waters that cut off their home from the human world. The dragon tried to sniff around in hope that his human brother could be somewhere else. Alive and well, and ready to jump out from behind a bush or something to say it was a joke and he was alright.  
But there was no scent left. The only one Leaf had come across was the one on the edge. Sadness struck the dragon, at the realization that his brother may be dead. The green dragon let out another loud roar as it echoed through the region. Once he finished, Leaf collapsed his head in sadness. Sadness of his brother’s death plague the dragon’s mind as he trudged back to the woods.   
That’s when he heard it. It was small but faint, but Leaf heard the roar of his human brother. The green dragon ears perked up a he tried to listen for it once again. Regrettably it did not come again, but the hope that Cy was alive filled the green dragon with such joy. The only problem was that the sound was coming from the human side. The world of the people who killed their mother and tried to kill Cy those years ago. Fear engulfed the dragon as he spread his wings and took off. Leaf had to find Cy before it was too late. Too late for Cy or the humans, the dragon couldn’t be sure. He just knew he needed to find his human brother before Core found out they were gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:  
Sixty year old Max was sitting on his front porch swing eating a sandwich while reading an article about the town’s little league winning another game and may move on to the championship. Inside the man wished that he had something better to do than to read during his lunch, but nothing big really happened in this little town except Eddy Indermine getting shot in the foot because he didn’t put the safety lock on. Sometime he wondered why people like Eddy, were allowed a gun.   
Max was about to flip the page after the sport section when his house phone went off. Putting down his paper and sandwich, Max reached into the open window and pulled out the phone from the receiver. He pushed the call button as he listened to the other side of the line.   
“Hey Max! Did you hear the crazy news?” It was Mrs. Rease from down the way. She was an eighty year old noisy lady who owned a flower shop in town. She was the biggest gossip magnet, which was funny to Max since he would think the town salon would be the gossip center.  
“Hear what?” Max tried not to sound so monotone. Usually it was about some guy stuck in the forest and his daughter, Molly, would go out and save them. Or someone got injured because of hunting, or just doing something really stupid. Again, not much happen here in the small town of Brookside. “I haven’t heard any screaming from Ed’s yard yet.”  
“No! Nothing like that.”   
Max could hear the woman evil popular girl chuckle on the other line. She frequently got like this when she was happy when the old croon got to tell Max, or anyone, the news of the day.   
“There was a wild boy spotted in town today.”  
“You called me to tell me some kids got out early and a making a ruckus around town.” Max could already see the teens jumping around and acting like idiots around town. Probably drinking or shooting up.  
“NO! I mean a real savage boy!” Miss Rease screeched into the phone. “He took out ten cops and was jumping on cars! I was lucky my shop was not destroyed by him!”  
That caused Max to raise an eye-brow in surprise. Even if the story was probably a little embellished, but it was an interesting tale. He would definitely need to call Molly to find out the real story.   
“Bam!”  
Miss Rease was still ranting on the other line but Max’s attention was drawn somewhere else. He heard the sound off a door open and looked to his shed. The next sound that followed was the sound of tools and other objects falling to the ground.  
Squirrels were the first thing Max thought of. Last week he found a ground hog roaming around his shed because it by accidently found its way in there. It took Molly and him hours to get that stupid thing out.   
Max told Mrs. Rease he had to go, which caused the old lady to squawk some more about why wasn’t Max listening to her. He put the phone down as he picked up the wooden bat that he kept close by just incase of wild animals that may attack him at night. It was not always the strange locals he had to watch out for, when people had a forest behind their house there was always the problem of a wolf or bear coming to your house to eat your garbage. Max slowly made his way to the shed as he tried not to make any sound. He nervously reached for the door handle and breathed. Whatever was inside here could be big and dangerous. A bat may not be the best choice but he really didn’t have an option right now.  
“Please be a bagger. Please be a bagger.” Max repeated over and over. He really hoped it wasn’t a wolf. Those canine can be quite nasty and he didn’t want to call animal control again.  
Slowly, Max opened the door and looked around. He held the bat up in a swinging position as he looked around the room. So far he saw no sign of any furry creature. But noticed all his tools and woods were scattered to the ground. It sdefinitely looked like something had scurried around in here.  
The sixty year old man had a hard time seeing into those dark spot in the shed. So Max felt around for the light switch to turn on and see. He pressed both switches as the room became brighter. Scanning the room again, did he find the creature that was responsible for his workshop’s dismay.  
Except it wasn’t a animal at all. It was a human. A boy in fact. Ranging around fourteen or fifteen. He had short brown hair that looked to be cut and made scraggily. He wore nothing but a dirty hospital gown which made Max realize that this was the savage boy that was running around town. Except he didn’t look wild, but scared.  
The boy’s eye dart back and forth as if he was trying to figure out how to escape. When Max made even the slightest move the boy would look at him, wide eyed and afraid.   
Max didn’t know what to do. He had never seen anything like this before. It was his daughter, Molly, who handled cases like this.   
But the truth was….the boy looked awfully familiar.  
“Hey,” The old woodcarver tried to speak soft and gently to not scare the boy into a panic. “I’m not going to hurt, okay.”  
The boy just scooted back more into the wall in terror. This caused Max to worry that the kid may be in too much of a panic or doesn’t speak any english. Which made it a lot harder on Max’s part. But then, the carver looked at what the boy was frighten of. It was the bat in his hands.   
Of course. The boy was afraid Max was going to hit him with the bat and was trying to get away from the dangerous object.   
“Its okay,” Max slowly put the bat on the table as it began to roll away from the man. “See. Nothing is going to happen.”  
The boy continued to stare at Max with curiosity. The teens fears seemed to disappeared as he looked at the old man as if he was calculating his next move.  
“Hey, how about this.” Max watched the boy stared at him with a questionable look before he said, “Why don’t we get you into the house and get you some better clothes. Hmmm?”  
The wild child continued to judge Max some more. Tilting his head, he wondered if he could trust this human.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Molly and Charlie were heading home after a long day of searching. So far, no one had found any sign of the frighten boy. Worry filled Molly because she feared that the scared boy would get hurt or worse. While Charlie kept arguing that he was glad the kid ran off and was probable hiding somewhere. When he found out Molly had been near where the savage kid took out those cops, he became freaked out that the female ranger could have been hurt by the violent teen as well.  
“You could have been hurt Molly!” Max claimed.   
“He was just scared.” Molly tried to defend the frighten boy. Her mind racing with thoughts of how the wild boy could be scared and alone right now.  
“He took down four officers. And one of them was big Mak! BIG MAK! Are you listening to me? The guy weighs a ton and the kid tossed him as if he were a small rock.” Charlie drove into Molly and Max’s driveway and began to park the car.  
“Well, he probably been out in the woods so long that he has developed some kind of abilities to defend himself. We came at him like a pack of wolves!” Molly pushed opened the car door. Once she got out, she slammed it shut behind her as she stomped to the house in frustration.  
“Should I be worried here? Cause my fiancée is talking like a crazy person.” Charlie trailed behind the angry woman as they headed for the house. “Like some love struck teen trying to defend her bad ass boyfriend. Or worse, an environmentalist.”  
“Ha ha, so funny I forgot to laugh.” Molly pulled opened the front door and made her way inside. She took off her shoes as she called, “I’m home!” to her father.  
“I thought I heard you two shouting.”   
Both Molly and Charlie could smell Max cooking a delicious meal which was odd. It was usually Molly who cooked. Before the female ranger had to made her way into the kitchen to check and ask her Dad if food was ready the confused woman had to wonder what was so special that her father decided to cook now. This was kind of….shocking since the man never liked to cook.  
“Dad? Are you coo…..” Molly halted her words when she saw who was sitting at the table.   
It had been the missing teen they were looking for. The wild child was wearing one of Max’s old brown sweaters with his blue jean pants. They were held up with a black leather belt since the teen was much skinnier than Max. He was sitting at the table with a picture book of different works by a bunch of fantasy drawing made by different artists. The boy looked at the two with a raised eye-brow before growing bored and getting back to looking at the page.  
Both Charlie and Molly did not know what to do. Do they move, speak, shout? They just found the dangerous kid, in Molly’s kitchen!   
“Are you two going to stand there like a couple of gaping fish or are you going to help me with this?” In Max’s hand were two dishes full of salad, corn and peas, and last a medium rare steak.   
The two just gave a dubious stare as they staid where they stood. This just made Max roll his eyes as he took the plates to the table himself. He placed one on his mat, while the other, had the steak cut up in to pieces and placed it next to the boy. The old wood carver went back in the kitchen to get the other plates, since he knew it Charlie would end up here.   
The wild teen stared at the food with curiosity since he had never seen berries like these. They were yellow and green. Of course, Cy had seen things made out of green, but never this tiny. The leafy stuff was new since it did not look like it was made from a tree for it had no stems. It was decorated with slices of red objects with yellow seeds inside of them. It made the boy wonder what kind of fruit this was. And then there was the orange things on the green. It was short and thin. There were many of them. It was very odd. Last was the meat. Cy had never seen meat cooked this way before. First time he had anything raw it was gamey and tasted awful. Heck, the boy got sick after he ate it raw. But somehow the outside was brown and held a delicious smell to it.  
Cy began to put his hand to it as he felt heat to it. Not hot enough to burn his fingers, but pleasant enough to keep the meat warm.  
The boy did not look up when three people started to sit down around the table with their own plates of food. Two of them did not know what to make of the situation since they had no idea how this would play out. They watched as the kid picked up the piece of steak with his hands and put it in his mouth. He chewed with his mouth open as he gave a hum. It looked as if the boy liked Max’s cooking. Which surprised Molly since she never had her father cooking since she was a little girl. She seen him make a sandwich or a bag of popcorn, but nothing grand as a full plate of food.  
Oh even, Charlie just raised an eye-brow at the kid’s table manners. The kid had given up on his book and now was using both his hands to eat everything off his plate. It was a lot worse when the kid shoveled all of it into his open mouth and began to chew. He swear he had never seen someone eat that way since his little cousin Jimmy at the family reunion.  
Molly could see Charlie’s discomfort and tried to get the kid to eat more civil. “Use this.”  
Cy watched the strange woman hand him a strange object that had four long thin pointy things on the end of a metal stick. It looked very strange to the boy as he took it from her hands. He stared at the object in wonder to what to do with it. He looked around and saw all of them stab their pointy thing into their food. Cy tried to copy the way the held the strange stick before stabbing his plate.  
The only thing was, the boy made such a big stab that it sounded as if he broke the plate. Everyone looked up in shock at what the boy did.  
“Oh my god, I think he just broke the plate.” Charlie’s eye widen in shock at the boy’s hand.  
Lucky for them, they didn’t have to get a new dish. Cy did stab the plate hard but not hard enough to break or chip it which was a miracle. Molly decided to help the boy out by taking his hand and lightly stabbing the food again.  
The boy watched in awe and wonder as to why they ate their food like this. It would be so much better to just eat with his hands. He saw no reason why he should not. It was easier and he could put much more in his mouth. But this was not his home and he would not like to anger these human. He was rather exhausted from all that running around and would rather eat than fight. It would go a lot better if this female would stop telling him to try chewing with his mouth closed.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
After dinner, Max was cleaning the dishes while the boy was back to looking at his book on the floor. He was still curious as to the weird animal he saw in this book. He had no idea so many mysterious creatures exist. It was interesting to see other creatures like his brother lived in this world.   
Cy’s thoughts were rudely interrupted when he heard the man and woman argue again. Or at least whispery argue. Didn’t they know he could hear them?  
“We don’t know anything about him.” Charlie stated.   
“I think his name is Davis Travers. Or at least that’s was his pants say.” Back at the hospital both Molly and the officers had gone through the boy’s things to try and find out who he was.  
The only thing they could find was a name on the inside, on the tag, of the pants. But Officer Dan said that was impossible unless it was the pants that went missing when they picked of Davis from walking nude down the street. Public indecency it was.  
Cy could not help but roll his eyes. “Cy”  
Both Charlie and Molly looked at him with raised eyebrow.   
“My name is Cy. Not Davis what his name.” Cy went back to reading his book while the couple stared at him in awestruck.  
“You speak English?” Molly was surprised that she got a full sentence out of the boy.  
“You speak human talk, yes.” Cy did not look up from his book.  
“So why didn’t you say anything before?” Charlie did not understand why this kid took so long to talk to them. They had dinner for over an hour and they kid said nothing.  
“My older brother doesn’t like it when I speak human talk.” Cy confirmed as he flipped to the next page.  
“Your brother?” Molly sat in a chair in front of Cy as she began to question him some more. Was there more kids out there like Cy? Was he abused by this so called brother.  
“Brothers.” Cy figured they thought he meant human brothers. Which was fine by him. He did not want any of these humans to know that he had dragon for brothers. The last humans who knew, Cy didn’t want to think about it.  
“Do you have anyone else?” Molly wanted to know. Maybe she could get to the bottom this. Fine out what really happened to Cy.  
“Leaf’s not bad. He’s kind of like my protector.” Cy smiled at the thought of his green dragon brother. “He can be a real goofball sometimes.”  
“What about the other?” Charlie was afraid to ask.  
“Core…” How to describe him, Cy wondered. “He’s more of an alpha. The king of the forest, he like us to believe. He can be stubborn, mean, a real bully. Put us in our place.”  
“Cy.” Molly laid her hand on top of Cy’s “Was he the one that made those bruises and scars on you?”  
Cy looked up at the woman. She held such fear in her eyes. The boy did not understand why. Sure, Core was a big bully but he never really hurt either of his brothers that they end up dead. “He just likes to dominate. Be in charge really.”  
Molly gasped as she got up and ran to the door. She could no longer take this. It was just too much. How could this boy just justify his brother’s action as if it was just, just playful? And what about this other kid Leaf. Was he in danger too?  
The female ranger tried to collect herself as she leaned against the porch rail. She felt so awful for what this boy had to go through. She knew what had to be done, but something inside of her made her unable to do it.  
“He also said his name was Cy-ler or something. His mother died when he was five years old plush five seasons. I’m guessing ten?” Charlie came outside and laid his hair against the railing too. He looked at Molly and saw the fear in her eyes. “We should call social services.”  
“No.”  
“Molly! This kid needs help. He has some kind of Stockholm syndrome or something.” Charlie could not believe Molly was acting this way. She was a forest ranger for Christ sakes.   
“What about his brother, Leaf?” Molly tried to defend her answer. “What will happen to him if Cy leaves? How will we find him without Cy’s help?”  
“That’s the job for the police. Not you Molly.” Charlie wanted Molly to understand. “Why do you care about this so much?”  
“Because he was lost.”   
Okay, Charlie did not understand. Molly had handled a lot of lost cases. How is different than any other case she had.  
Molly grasped the railing as she leaned back and looked at Charlie. “Did I ever tell you the story of how I got lost in the woods?”  
Charlie stared at Molly with inquisitiveness. His fiancée had always said if he got lost she would find him. That she knew the forest like the back of her hand since she was a kid and never got lost.  
“I was eight years old.” Molly began her story. “I was just eight years old and lost in these very woods.” Molly pointed to the woods behind her house. “Can you believe it. I got lost in my own back yard.”  
“What happen?” Charlie wanted to know. Know how smart, adventures Molly became a lost kid in her own backyard.  
“I was playing in the woods. I must have walked those paths a hundred times. Knew left from right. Rock to stream, but one day, I saw something. I don’t remember if it were a bunny or a bird, I just knew that I wanted to follow it. So I did. Deeper and deeper into the woods I got, until I lost sight of the very thing I was chasing. I looked all around and couldn’t figure a way to get back. I called and I called for my dad, until my voice became hoarse. I cried my little hearts out as I walked around. I tried to find my way back I really did.”  
“Aren’t you suppose to stay where you are?” Charlie asked with concern.  
“When your eight years old and panicking, you forget everything. All I wanted to do was to get back home.” Molly smiled at Charlie as she remembered the time. “I was stuck out there till the next morning. I was so cold that I shook with great force. I was huddled under a big tree. I don’t know how no animal tried to eat me but I just remember the cold.”  
Charlie watched her with such intensity. He could not believe what he was hearing. The one time he got lost was in a grocery store with his mom. All he had to do was go up to a clerk and ask for his mom and lord a behold there she was. Saying she was going to clobber him one before she hugged him. He could not imagen being alone in the woods over night.  
“And then the light.” Molly’s face lit up. “It was my father with a bunch of people. They were all looking for me. Somehow I made it ten miles away from the house and it had taken all day to find me. After that it took me a while to venture into those woods.”  
“What got you to go back out there?” Charlie was curious. If he was her, Charlie would just stay inside forever. But her she was, a forest ranger, facing the forest every day. Heck, she would even tell him how she wished she could live out there sometimes.  
“My father.” Molly clarified. “He just had enough of me being afraid. So he made me put on a jacket and took my hand as we trudged into the woods. I was so frighten that I held onto my Dad’s hand for dear life. We walked for what felt like hours before he stopped. I became so freaked out that I feared that we were lost as well. But my dad bent down to me and took this out.” Molly held out her little necklace that had a compass inside. “He told me, just look at this and follow it North. You reach our house and never be lost. After that, I stopped be afraid. When I heard about other people getting lost in the woods I wanted to help out. I wanted no one to feel what I had felt those years ago.”  
Charlie was awestruck by the story. He had never heard this story from Molly before and it touched him inside. He let out a breath of air as he looked up at the sky. “Well, that’s a relief.”  
Molly turned to stare at Charlie. She just poured her heart out. Why was he talking this so calmly?  
“For a second….I thought I was marring a cougar.”  
Molly punched Charlie in the shoulder. He deserved it but she was happy that the man was trying to cheer her up. She whipped her way her tears as she called him as “Jerk.”  
“Fine, but you better call the sheriff and tell him that he’s here. I’m not going to be responsible for your forgetfulness.” Charlie started to head to his car before Molly punched him in the face.  
“Yeah yeah, don’t you worry.” Molly watched the man leave, but not before blowing him a kiss.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Inside the house, Cy was watching the seen unfold. The couple was definitely odd. They talked, cried, hit, all in one day. It was like a couple of deer who did know what to do today.  
The door swung open and in comes Molly. Her heart was pounding as she tried not to look like some love struck teen.  
“I’m guessing you haven’t mated with him yet?”  
Molly’s eye’s bulged out of her head as she turned to stared at the boy, who was sitting on her living room couch, watching her. She blushed like mad with what the boy was thinking off.  
“That’s something you don’t want your father to ever think about with their daughter.” Max was holding a beer as he came from the kitchen.  
Molly face could not get any more red from the embarrassment she was feeling right now. She was having a heart to heart with heart boyfriend and her comes the most perverted thing to say out of a teens mouth.  
Cy just raised an eye-brow. Why was everyone taking this as an embarrassment? Lots of animals went into heat and had sex. Sure, he has never experienced it, since he was the only human, but it was quite strange for these two humans not to act upon it. Did they have a default or something?  
Molly tried not to stutter. “Why would you think that?”  
‘Really?’ was all the boy could think off. “If you do not like him. Then why did you do that weird lip and hand thing?”  
“You mean blow a kiss?” Molly wondered if the teen had any experience with lip behavior.   
“If that’s what you want to call it.” Cy just shrugged his shoulders, not really carrying. “Do you like the guy or not?”  
“He’s…..” Molly plopped herself next to the wild child as she gave a dreamy face at the thought of Charlie. “He’s nice.”  
“Wow. Two syllables.” Molly’s father shouted from the kitchen..  
“Oh shut up Dad!” Molly yelled. She laid her back, back on the seat again as she continued. “He was such a city boy when he came here. Not used to the woods at all. Everyone thought he would give up in a day. ‘What’s a city boy know about a mill. He will turn and quit just you see.’ But he didn’t. He tried his very best to start up the mill again and make this town’s people have work again. Some savior, I say the guy was over his head. First time I met him was because he was cutting out of his sector.” She looked at Cy with curiosity. “You know what he did? He just sat there and took notes. Asked me if I had heard about any other problems his workers were making. Can you believe that? Problems? Hear anything? That’s not what a mill owner would say. They just nod their head and say ‘a get right on it and never do’. He was…. He was different.”  
“And you fell in love with him.” Cy guessed.  
“Asked me out a couple days later. Told me he wanted to be different than his grandfather. Start his own way in life from nothing and make this mill into something. He was strange.” Molly smiled to herself at the thoughts that ran through her head of Charlie. When she heard nothing from her father did she ask, “What? Nothing from the peanut gallery?”  
Max just appeared from the kitchen with two bowls in his hand. He said nothing as he placed them on the table.  
The family laughed and talk into the night with their new friend. Blushing consumed many as they talked about embarrassing moments. The three grew close that night. It was as if they had known each other for years and were now just catching up on old times.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Charlie did not want to go home. He was just so caught up in so many emotions that he had no idea what to do with them. That why he decided to head to the mill. It was late and he had nowhere to be but he really want to be in his office.  
The mill owner, parked the car, got out, walked up the steps, and opened the door to his office. Looking inside, he still saw the avalanche of papers and folders. Taking off his jacket, he got to work. He organized and place each piece of paper in their correct folders and place. It desk was becoming neater and he could see the brown wood up his desk. The book shelf of folder was neatly structured and Charlie could read each and every one of the names on them.  
His office was looking more and more like a real office rather than a storage room. He even started to wipe away the dust and took a mop out of the janitor’s closet to clean his floor. By the time he was done, he became very pleased with himself.  
And he felt a lot better. All the weight of everything that happen today lifted from his chest as he sat down in his office chair. He looked around the room and was very proud of himself. But something caught his eye when he saw the picture of his grandfather turn a little bit at an angle. He stared the picture with hate. Why did he keep it up? No one liked it and it reminded everyone of hard times when the man lived here. Even Charlie did not fancy his grandfather to well.  
He only remembered as the man who showed off his wealth. His parents had money but nothing like his grandfather. The man would show up in a Ferrari to ever family gathering and a new fancy suit to boot. It made the family scorn with hate for the man. Charlie even remembered some family cheered when the man lost everything in that one fire that ruined his business here. The new mill owner could not remember if any one of his family members went to the man’s funeral when he died.   
Charlie decided enough was enough. His grandfather’s dynasty died when the old man piffed. This got Charlie up from behind his desk to take down the picture. He was done looking at his grandfather and so was everyone else.   
Charlie grabbed both sides as he pulled the painting off the nails and placed it on the floor. Maybe he could throw it in a dumpster. He as pretty sure no one would want to own a horrible piece. Charlie looked back at the wall in wonder what he should put here instead. But got detracted by the strange creases in the wall. It was painted over as if it were hiding something.   
Charlie went to his closet to take out a crowbar. He had it ever since he first came here, just in case something happened when he would need it. And it looked like today might be that day.  
The owner placed the metal bar into the space in the wall and gave it a pull. It sounded like metal straining to keep itself together before it popped open. It looked to be a wall safe, but there was nothing in the plans about having one in this office. Charlie peered in side and was in for quite a question to why he only saw a large metal box. It looked to be locked but the mill owner soon took care of that with the crow bar.   
Charlie could only guess what could be inside. Bribery money? Jewelry? But then again, the greedy old man would probably have burned it with him. He sure gave nothing to his family. Even the ones that sucked up to him.  
Charlie was in for quite a shock for what he found inside. It was not jewels or dollar bills, but instead folders with papers. The mill owner pulled one out and opened it. He eyes filled with horror at what he was seeing.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:  
This thing he was forced to lay on was not comfortable at all.   
Cy was sleeping upstairs in one of the empty guest rooms that Molly and Max had provided for him. They gave him some sleepwear and some extra clothes for tomorrow. But right now, Cy was not sure how he was going to make it until the next day. The bed was too soft and no matter how much he turned, the boy could not get comfortable.   
‘That’s it! I’m sleeping on the floor.’ Cy through the pillow on the ground and began to pulls the blanket of the bed to make a nest. He just could not stand for how this bed acted against his body. The floor was a better option. Something nice and hard like the cave floor would lull the boy to sleep.  
His nest was almost complete when the house rang with the sound of banging. Cy perked up at the sound as he saw the hall light turn on and someone rushing down the stair. The boy stood still. He did not want to be caught being up at night when he was supposed to be asleep. But it seemed the person was preoccupied with the banging. That’s when Cy heard it from outside his bedroom window.  
“Are you nuts?” It sounded like Molly was the one to answer the door. “It’s three in the morning!”  
The person in front of Molly was none other than her fiancée, Charlie. She could not understand why the man decided to bang on her door at this late into the night, but was ready to strangle him for waking her. She was, at the moment, very glad it was her who opened the door to see her deranged boyfriend. It probable would have been much worse if her father did.  
What Molly got in response to her question, was a different matter. Charlie laughed darkly as he whispered to himself ‘how his grandfather was mad’ and ‘how it was now his turn to clean up the mess.’  
Molly closed the door behind her and tried to get Charlie to calm down. “Charlie, breathe. What’s this about?”  
“Calm down. Calm down!” Charlie’s hands tightly gripped the porch railing. He looked at Molly with such hatred. But it was not for her. It was for something else. “How can I be calm when I just found out why the town hates my grandfather so much. Why your father hates me so much.”  
Molly tilted her head as she looked at Charlie confused. Sure her father did not like Charlie but she never thought he would hate her boyfriend. This was beginning to scare her when she saw Charlie go off more and more.  
“Do you know what I just found?” He saw Molly shake her head in worry. “I found a little box, in my grandfather’s office, behind his portrait, inside the wall, a box full of deep, dark secrets that could rival the mafia. Heck, my grandfather was probably part of the mafia.”  
“I’m pretty sure there is no mafia in this town Charlie.” Molly didn’t know if Charlie was trying to be funny or not, but Molly was no amused at the moment. “What are you trying to say?”  
“Are you seriously that dumb?” Charlie looked up to meet her gaze. He saw in her eyes the look of a confused person. “Of course not.” That’s when Charlie figured it out. “He never told you.”  
“Told me what?” Now Molly was more confused than ever. She knew that Charlie was talking about his grandfather. She had never met the man but had heard things around town when the old owner was still around. Nasty things about how he was working the mill like a sweatshop. How he would cheat people out of there pay and defile the land. But Molly was in college when she learned that the old mill owner had lost everything in the fire. Why was Charlie bringing this up? What did this have to do with her?  
Charlie laughed some more. It was funny. He expect Max to have told her everything. But he was wrong. Max was definitely a big lair. “The famous Brookside Monster. Hide your children folks, he eat them up and spit out there bones when you get to close to it lair.”  
Charlie’s voice sounded eerie and frightening to Molly. Her first thought was that maybe Charlie had too much to drink. He looked just as sober as a judge.  
Charlie took the paper, that he brought, and dropped the on the floor. He watched as Molly steadily picked them up and looked at each one of them. “There is no monster Molly. It’s just a lie to cover a stupid man’s scheme of getting some outer towners to come here and visit the great campgrounds that were in the Dead Zone. The problem is…that none of them get the chance to leave.”  
Molly looked at them. Really looked at them and saw why Charlie was acting this way.   
Each one of those paper had a family, friends, and couples on them. They all were here for a camping trip, but none had expected to not come back from that trip. Rockslide, tree fall, car accident, all in big red letters stamped on to each one of them of how they all died. How they were tricked into going on a perfect camping trip to a deserted forest island. Probable sounded delightful to each and every one of them. But because of the way Mr. Collins was cutting down every tree, it lead to forest deterioration. As in the forest was breaking in on itself. The island was dying.   
“Each and every one of them was promised a lifetime experience. But when they died of some unfortunate accident, my grandfather covered it up. So why not use the story of a monster to claim it so.” Charlie could not help but scoff at the idea. His grandfather wanted more money. It was not enough that he was destroying tree after tree. No, he had to get some stupid city folk who wanted a great camping experience to come and stay at the place they were destroying. When they didn’t survive he just covered it. He covered it all up with bribery, and stories. No one ever knew these people were gone. But Max knew. Charlie had no idea how, but Max knew everything. That’s why he was always on Charlie’s case about how he was going to be just like his grandfather. Taking down trees and destroying the land. It would only be matter of time before another incident occurred.   
Molly was in shock at what she was reading. All these people were dead. No survivors each paper said. When she reached the last of them did here face froze as she gasped in shock.  
Charlie knew which paper she was on. “Skylar’s his name. Skylar Trevers. Was going for a camping trip with his parents and a mysterious car accident involving a mudslide caused the car to fall off a cliff. Parents dead but no sign of five year old Skylar could be seen anywhere. Presumed dead by hungry animal or so the report says.”   
Molly could not believe it but here he was. The eyes, the nose it was all Cy. He looked to like a happy boy. Excited to go on a little adventure with his family into the mysterious woods. Her eyes sadden at the realization. The boy’s parents were dead. Cy had no one.  
“I already called them Molly.”  
The ranger’s eyes widen in realization at what Charlie meant. “I said I was going to do it.”  
“Give me a break Molly!” Charlie was just so angry. He didn’t want to take it out on her but she needed to realize. Realize that Cy needed help. His family was gone and the boy had lived in the woods for ten years. Ten years of solitude, loneliness. “Social services will be here in the morning to pick him up.”  
“What about his brothers!” Molly was mad. Charlie had no right to do this at all. Cy was just beginning to trust them and give her more information about the other boys. What if they were still out there? What would happen to Leaf?  
“There probably just imaginary. Or worse, just some animals he named.” Charlie had visions of books and movies he watched with wild children being raised in the jungle. But this was no fairytale. Children who grew up feral had a hard time come back from being animal to human. It would worse for Cy since he had been out there longer.   
Molly just saw red. She knew that she was being unreasonable and probable would wake up tomorrow realizing that Charlie’s words were true. But right now, she wanted to be as far away from reality as possible. She wanted Charlie gone from here sight. “I want you to leave Charlie.”  
Charlie watched his lover walk back into her house and locked the door behind here. He could not help but sickly chuckle. “Remember Molly. When tomorrow comes, those social workers will be here to take the boy away. And there’s nothing you can do!”  
Charlie stormed off as he climbed into his truck and started the engine. He was just so angry at her. At everything. He looked into the rear mirror to see the house. He looked at the window he knew was Molly’s and felt a sadness. Charlie felt awful. He knew of Molly felt about the boy. How she could see a helpless child in of help for someone to understand him. To comfort and protect. He giggled a little at the thoughts that transpired today. It had only been one day but still. The kid got under his skin. Under all their skins. He was cunning and funny. Just as they thought he was weird, Cy found their custom questions weird but interesting as well.   
Charlie began to smile at the thought of how the boy did not know how to use a simple fork. But then, he remembered how Cy attacked the police officers. How he took them all out as if they were nothing. What if he over powered them. He remembered asking that same question to the boy.   
But the boy just said, ‘What else was he supposed to do. When a group of hungry wolves surround you do you just give up?’  
That made a lot of sense. The men did tried to try to grab him. If Charlie had a bunch of men coming after him and had no idea what they were going to do to him, wouldn’t he do something to defend himself.   
And Molly. The way she tried to help Cy understand how to use a fork and be all motherly to the boy, it made Charlie smile. Molly had always been good with kids. Young and teen. Chalk it up to her father, Max, being good with them. But Molly had a different way about her. She was patient and understanding. Wanting to know both sides of the story before she has the need to judge. Something Charlie did so little.   
The mill owner put his car into gear as he began to drive out of the driveway. He realized he needed to do something. He couldn’t let the boy leave them like this.   
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
The only problem was that Cy had heard everything. Images flowed to his head of the two people from his dream, his parents. How could he have forgotten about them? Or did something make him forget. But it didn’t explain one question that pledged the boy’s mind. How did he survive?  
But the last words that left Charlie’s lips scared Cy the most. That people were coming to take him away. He did like this family, he really did. But Cy had his own family he needed to get back to. Leaf must be extremely worried about him. Core could be too but the boy could never tell with his brother’s crazy mood swings. But then again, what if the alpha male did care? Worse, what if the black and red dragon had gone looking for him?  
These thoughts scared the feral child. Cy had to act quickly. He needed to get home and back to his family as fast as he could.   
Quietly, Cy put on his new clothes that Molly had left for him before the teen turned the nob and made his way out the door. The fifteen year old crept silently down the stair and made his way into the living room. Before he left, Cy made sure to grab a few things before he left.   
The boy knew it was stealing but what else could he do. With the long travel home, Cy was going to need a few thing if he ever wanted to make it home.   
The boy looked around the house until he came across Molly’s old backpack. It was empty and perfect for storing things that the feral teen would need on his trip. Cy went around the room and collect items, such as fruit from the fruit bowl, one knife utensil, and that art booked he liked so much. Cy was sure that Leaf would like the book as well. Hel, he would even like the stories Cy made up for them on each of the pages. The feral teen then looked to the wall to see the map Max and Molly had told him so much about. It was a map of the area. On the bottom was the town and the mill was up towards the right. Max and Molly’s house was on the left side. Max had explained that the forest island was in the opposite direction Cy was going when the boy ended up in Max’s shed. If Cy had kept going, the teen would have ended in another town before he realized it.   
That’s when the old man showed Cy the route that would take him to the island. Cy had no idea why Max was showing him this but right now, the boy was more than grateful. The fifteen year old studied the map as if his life deepened on it. Which in this case may be more on the human lives if Cy did not get back in time before Core knew he was missing.  
One last thing the feral teen needed to grab though was one of Max’s old jacket.  
Since Cy’s hair had been cut away, the boy had nothing to use to protect himself from the cold.   
When he had this discussion with Max, the man would ask, “Why didn’t you turn your blankets into clothes?”  
This only caused Cy to stare at the old man. What? Did the sixty year old think that the feral teen had a needle and thread somewhere? Plus it was tedious work cutting open those furs off the animal without causing them to rip. Also, Cy did not know what a jacket looked like until he saw Max, Charlie, and Molly wear one. He had been alone in the woods for ten years with no knowledge of how human society worked at all. Hel, he was raised by a dragon for forest sakes.  
Cy pulled out the brown jacket with the plush light tan fur on the collar and slipped it on. He did not grab any of the shoes because they would not have fit him and the teen did not want to give his dragon brother the shell shock of their lives.   
The feral teen could already hear Core yelling and threatening to take down all the humans while Leaf just fret over him. The boy was wishing that he had not woken up this morning and just stayed in the cave. Then this whole entire mess wouldn’t have happen.   
But then he would have never met Molly, Max, and Charlie.   
Cy was reaching for the door handle when he stopped. He thought of his time here. Even though it had only been a day, the boy felt something for the small family. They were kind and funny. They, at first, were scared of him but then grew to understand and except him for the weird, feral child he was. They did not push him or tried to hurt him like those other humans did. They did not corner him or point a gun at his face.   
It made him wonder, if he didn’t have to go back to the isolated island, would he have really left.   
But then the thoughts of what Charlie said to him rang into the teens minds. Of how Charlie was the one who called those social people to come and take him away. And Molly was going to do the same thing. At least that’s what Cy thought she was going to do. It sounded like she did not want the feral child to leave. Was that only to go after his brothers or did she really like him?   
Cy did not have time to answer his own question when a sound rang through the air. It was very quiet and sounded more like the wind howling. But Cy knew the difference between the wind and a dragon’s roar. He could not tell who’s roar it was but it did bring fear to the young feral teen. For if one dragon knew he was gone, then one must be coming for him. The only problem was, which one.  
Cy swung the bag over his shoulder as he opened the door. Looking back one more time, the fifteen year old said one silent, final goodbye before he took off into the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:  
Molly was up the next morning bright and early. She did not have the courage to wake up Cy yet and wanted to make their last meal together special. She did not know what to make a boy, who had grown in the woods for ten years, but just decided to go with the flow. As in, make all different kinds of breakfast foods that Molly was able to make from the fridge and pantry. Such as eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, cereal, and pancakes was what she decided to make.  
The ranger knew that she was being ridicules making all this food for four people. Yes, four people. Even though Molly was still mad at her fiancée, she knew that Charlie was right. She did go off her rocker when she confused her own curiosity of wanting to know more about the boy and how he survived in the woods. Or maybe is was because the boy saved her when she was on the Dead Zone island. He could have left her there to die but no Cy made sure Molly got off safe and sound and back to her family. Plus after last night, when Charlie left, the three of them really got to know each other. Cy had become more of annoying brother that Molly begged her parents for when her mom was still around. Unfortunately, the stork had come a little late or dropped the boy off in the wrong family.   
That was another thing Molly realized. Cy or Skylar’s family. Cy said he only remembered a little a bit about them. That they were kind and loving, but that really it. His other family, he calls them, are much more different. The way he described his mother could make and child want to go up and hug their own. She sounded gentle and devoted to her children as Mara gave her last breath to save them from the awful man who tried to kill them. After that Cy became an orphan again and spent a lot of time with his one brother, Leaf, in those woods.  
It sadden Molly to think of such a young child alone in those woods. Even with his brothers, Cy must have felt frighten and lonely for years.  
“Bang, bang!”  
Molly was brought out of her thoughts when she heard knocking coming from the front door. She placed the last of the condiments down and was about call her Dad and wake up Cy for breakfast. But it looks like time was going too fast today.   
The ranger braced herself as she got ready to open the door. Once this door was open this would be the last time Molly was ever going to see Cy. The ranger tried to put on a brave face as she twisted the doorknob. She saw that it was officer Davis and a young woman that she had never seen before. One could only guess that this was the woman who had come to take her knew little brother away.   
“Hello Molly.” The officer could see from the way Molly was trying to put on a brave face that this was going to be tough on the ranger. “This is Miss Ragner from social services. We’ve come to pick up the boy.”  
Molly looked at the woman in front of her. She was lean and looked very determined. Miss Ragner seemed like the person who either would like to get this done very quickly or was ready to go to war with Molly. She held no smile but the social worker looked to be saying, ‘Let’s just get this over with.’  
Molly just let out a sigh as she let the two in. “I was hoping we could allow him to eat breakfast before you came.”  
“I read in his file that he was living in the woods. Judging by the smell in the air, you would have made him sick rather than full with the things you’re cooking up.” Miss Ragner’s words were stern and seemed to think Molly of that of an idiot for feeding the boy such foods.  
The ranger’s eyes squinted in anger. How dare this woman think Molly was trying to poison Cy. The pilot was just trying to cook a nice goodbye breakfast. “Why don’t I go get him.”  
Molly needed to get as far away from the woman as she possible could. For the ranger wanted to strangle the social worker for saying such things. Molly just hoped she could get a few goodbyes in before the determine woman dragged Cy away from them and both Max and Molly would never see the feral boy again.   
Before Molly made the first step, the sound of a car screeching into her driveway made the ranger and the others turn their head to the sound. The engine turned off, along with a car slam, as the front door slammed open and in came Charlie in a huff. He had papers in his hands as he tried to get his words out.  
“Wa..wa..wait.”   
They all watched for a few seconds before Molly continued her way up the stairs. She did not want to listen to anymore of Charlie’s words. He was probable found out more things about Cy and maybe family that were alive and well but also lived in another country.   
Charlie followed Molly up the stairs as he tried to talk to her. “Molly wait!”  
“Not now Charlie.” Molly continued to ignore her boyfriend.  
“But you, you got to listen to me!” Charlie tried to keep up with her as Molly seemed to be trying to out run him.  
“I have to get Cy up and ready to leave.” Her words were cold. As if Molly was saying that this was all Charlie’s fault, which it was, that Cy had to leave with this horrible woman.  
“But he doesn’t.”   
Molly’s hand was on Cy’s doorknob when she looked at Charlie with a confused look. “What do you mean?”  
“I mean, I found some documents and Cy can actually…..”   
When Molly fully opened the door, inside both Molly and Charlie were greeted with an empty room that head no forest child. Blankets were all over the floor along with the sleepwear that Molly had allowed the boy to wear. Fear struck the two in realization that Cy was gone.  
“He must have heard us.” Was all Charlie could say.   
Molly stormed down the stair in such a rush that it frighten the officer and social worker with her thunderous sounds. The two watched the ranger run out the door and began the call the boy’s name. Both eye’s widen in realization that the boy was not here.  
“What is the meaning of this?” Miss Ragner was very upset and demanded to know where the boy was.  
The officer saw Charlie come down the stairs and began to ask question. When Charlie explained the situation of how the boy must have heard Molly and him argue last night that it must have caused the boy to get scared and run. The officer quickly exited the house as he spoke into his walky-talky about the missing boy.  
“Where do you think he would have gone?” Officer Davis knew Molly well. He knew that Molly would never have allowed the boy to leave the house on his own and began to question if she had any idea of a place the boy might be heading.  
“The woods.” Molly exclaimed. “He’s trying to get back to his family and I think he would head into the woods behind my house.”  
Molly watched Officer Davis walk away as he explained the situation to the other officers on the line about what was happing. The ranger was so distraught for letting this happen. Why didn’t she check on him before she went to bed? The woman was only brought out of her thoughts when Charlie put a hand on her shoulder. The man felt so bad in what he had done and was too worried about Cy.  
“Molly! I’m going to need you to take the lead on this one.” Officer Davis exclaimed. “You’re the only one who knows these woods better than anyone.”  
Molly nodded her head as she looked towards the woods.   
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It had been many miles down the road before the sun began to set. Cy began to worry that he was never going to get home. He had wished he took that map, if it wasn’t framed, with him so the boy would know where the heck he was going. So far, the feral teen knew that he needed to head northeast if he wanted to get back to his forest island. Unfortunately for Cy, he did not know where that was or how to follow that path. He had always knew had to get around his home due to remembering marks and paths that he would follow every day. But this was different. There was only a semi tar road that he needed to follow and not be seen by the locals. For the boy could already guess that they were out here looking for them.   
The boy would have been more scared, if not for the fact that he had never seen a car take this road at all. It made him question if people use this road at all or it was because this road lead to the broken bridge that no one could ever use. It was definitely strange.   
But when dusk hit, did Cy finally see a beat up old, red truck that looked oddly familiar to Charlie’s. If not for the dents, it would be an exact copy. The truck pulled up to the fifteen year old, as inside were two college boy’s and one high school girl. They question where Cy was going and if he was, also, heading to the awesome, before the dreary test taking starts, end of summer, her comes fall and midterms, campfire.   
This caused Cy to raise an eye-brow at the three. He had never heard of such a strange thing and had no idea what they were talking about. They looked harmless and did not know who he was except for a strange guy walking along side of the road. Cy decided to take a chance and asked them if they knew the way to getting to the forest island that was cut off from the town.  
“Oh ya, we’ve heard of it.” The one young adult with blond, slightly, curly hair was hanging outside the car window. “Its a bunch of miles away.”  
“What my idiotic brother’s friend here is saying is that you got a long way to go before you going to get to the island.” The girl was sitting between the two guys and had long black hair and a cute smile.   
“If you want we can give you a lift.” The boy had similar features the girl next to him that went with the dark back hair. “If you do not mind going to the campfire as well.”  
The feral child thought for a while about his choices. He needed to get their as soon as possible but had no way of getting there. Looking back up at the three young adults Cy could not help his face heating up when the girl said, ‘you coming or what?’  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It was dark outside as the moon hung high in the sky. A blaze of a large campfire raged in the middle of a large group of teens and young adults ranging from fifteen to twenty-three. They all just wanted to blow off some steam this lovely Saturday night and what better way was a campfire in the woods before hunting season start. They could roast hotdogs and marshmallows while listening to one, curly bundle boy, who was dubbed Jason, tell his crazy stories.  
“And there I was. Lost and cold in the gym locker. I had just finished working out this hot vizeek body.” Now Jason was no tubby but he did not have the body of a jock. Even with the snickers of him ‘working out’, he still continued his story. “When I heard it. The sound of moaning and a gasp. Thoughts ran through my head, dirty thoughts, of what could it be. I grabbed my only weapon, my cell, and slowly made my way into the hall. I held it up to take a picture and load and behold, what did I see?” That when Jason pointed his finger at the girl across the fire. “Missy biting Aricson on the neck. That’s when I found out she was a vampire.”  
A giant bag of hotdogs was thrown at Jason as the man fell onto the ground. The girl he embarrassed screech and blushed like mad as she plotted ways in getting the awful blonde back.  
“Haha very funny Jason.” The other boy who was in the truck, driving, Eric, rolled his eyes at his dumb friend. “Tell us a better story man.” The black hair twenty year old watched as his sister, Lacey, helped Cy put a hotdog on a stick and put it just right in the fire.  
“Say Cy!” Jason looked at their new friend from the ground. “Have you heard the story of the Forest Monster Incident?”  
Everyone grown in annoyance since everyone but Cy had heard this story. But the boy looked at the strange blonde in question. He looked at the black haired girl before shaking his head slightly as to not be so sure if he should let Jason continue.   
“Yes!” Jason jumped in the air in happiness for he got to tell his favorite story. But his face formed into a frown when everyone around him groaned. “Shut up.” Jason regained his composure as he began his tale. “It all started with greedy Mr. Colins.  
You see Mr. Colins came here to start up a logging Mill, back when this town was just a little spot on the map. People came from all around with the promise of good pay and safe environment.   
In the beginning, there were no problem with them cutting down the trees. The only problem was that Mr. Colins wasn’t cutting down any near town. No, he wanted to take the greatest and healthiest trees in all the land the once that belong to a certain Forest Monster.   
Without out the Monster’s permission, the loggers cut and cut. Destroying everything in their path and taking down everything down with them. Animals ran for their lives as their home had been violated. Fish became sick and dying thanks to the polluted gas that ran through the rivers.   
People were outraged. But Mr. Colins did not care. For he just saw profit, profit, profit.   
So the people of the town warned him. If he does not stop what he is doing, the Forest Monster will come.  
But Mr. Colins scoffed in a laugh. He was not afraid of any monster.   
That’s when things went strange. Suddenly, bulldozers and machinery were pushed to their side. Their outpost sent ablaze.”  
“My Dad says it because the hippies got mad.” Missy raised her hand as a few nodded in agreement.  
“Anyway…” Jason continued his story. “With his site destroyed, Mr Colins was out for blood. He gathered his men and head to the woods to hunt down the beast. But what he met was something they had never seen before.   
Eye’s as red as hellfire. Teeth and claws as sharp as knives. Body full of black scales and fur as dark as night. Its head as gruesome as the most hideous demon this side of…..”  
“Yes, yes were get it.” Another teen hollered in annoyance. “Just get on with it.”  
Jason glared angrily at the group. He just couldn’t tell a story without getting interrupted by his peers. “Anywaaaayyyy. The Beast reared up it nasty head and blew hellfire out of his mouth. It burn each men until they were all dead. But the Monster wasn’t done yet. No. The demon needed to send a message to all who would dare try to step on its door.   
That’s when the horrible fire of Brookside Mills went up in flames.   
But that’s not all. The monster wanted to make sure no one would ever step on its land ever again. It caused the river to flood and break the bridge in half. It caused all electronic power to not work anywhere near it” Jason, suddenly, became calm as his head dipped. “That was five years ago. But if you ever go near the Island, you can still hear the Forest Monster howling in the winds. Warning anyone not to come near it home.   
Or they will be next!” Jason let out a cackle before he gave a grossest howl.   
Everyone, but Cy raised an eyebrow at their crazy friend before he sat down back in his chair.  
“And that my friend is the story of the Forest Monster.” Jason leaned back in his chair, hands folded behind his head, proud of himself for the story he told.  
“The demon head is new.” Eric said from behind Cy and his sister who were sitting on the ground.  
“I know of a different story to the Forest Monster.” Cy watched the fire burn.  
“Oh really?” Jason could only guess that it was one story told by crazy Max, the old wood carver.   
“What if I told you that Forest Monster was a dragon?” Cy watched a few of the teen groan.  
Of course, the teen and young adult knew the story Cy was talking about. It was the famous dragon story from crazy carver Max. Back in the day, Max told everyone had he had seen the Forest Monster and that it was a dragon. People thought he was nuts and that it was just a forest fire that started by some hippies against one Mister Colins.   
Some did believe in the Forest Monster, but that was just so it can be scam to bring in some customers to Brookside. Because once Mr. Colins lost the log Mill, the town lost its source for income. So why not make up a monster to go with the story of how the fire started.   
“Go on, I want to hear it.” Lacey encourage Cy to continue his story.  
“I bet you would.” Jason muttered to himself. But Lacey had heard the older boy and rammed her elbow into his leg. Jason quickly grabbed his leg as he hissed at the pain. “Dude, your sister hits like a guy.”  
Jason, of course, received a punch in the arm by Eric for calling his sister a guy. After that Jason was left with both a bruise on his leg and upper arm.  
“Long ago, Dragons roamed the earth. They flourished and played along the green mountain tops. But soon their days of play ended when the humans attacked.   
They wanted the dragons dead for the humans fear that they would kill them. This caused the dragons to try and fly away. They tried to fight back but none seemed to hav survived. Except for one female who had somehow survived the great tragedy. She gave birth to two sons. An earth and a fire dragon. While one was like its mom, gentle and kind. The other was more strong and dominate. Both wanting different things, but yet they were close as sibling could get.  
But soon humans expanded and grew. The mother dragon tried to hide herself and her children from all harm. Tried to stay as far away as she could from the humans and never bothered them. But soon they grew too greedy and backed the dragon family into a corner.   
They were trapped. The dragon mother tried to protect her children when the man pulled out a gun on her and her children. But she too met her demise. This caused the one dragon child to grow dark and cold. He reared up his head and blew a great breath of fire.   
Trees became a flame as he went after every human he could. None shall live for they will feel my heartache. And thus the fires burned, until none were left.”  
Everyone stared in awe at the strange boy’s tale. Some of the females, and a few males, were crying at the mother dragon’s dying. Such a sad story.   
“I liked my better.” Jason mumbled before he was shushed by every female in the circle.  
But Cy just closed his eyes as he remembered the song his mother sung about dragons.  
“Come my little children,   
I tell thy the tale  
Of when dragons roamed the earth  
Such mighty creatures   
You can still hear them roar through the howls of the wind  
Their wings beat as loudly as thunder as they fly through the sky  
Their feet shook the earth as they roamed from hill to isle.  
Their powerful fire scorched the land as they protected themselves from all harm  
But do not worry my children for I will protect you till death  
Sleep, sleep my child   
Tucked under my wing  
Sleep soundly my child for I sing the song of the dragons.”  
Yes, Cy remembered the day as if it were yesterday. It was not the fire or Core who started the flood that broke the bridge. No, it was Leaf and himself. They destroyed the rock wall that caused the flood. But it did not shatter the bridge.   
It was till Leaf let out his hot, fiery, flame that made the bridge final collapse.   
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
While Cy was singing his mother’s lullaby by the campfire. Elsewhere, his brother Leaf was looking high and low for his lost brother. He could smell his trail as he followed it to both the creek to the hospital. But the dragon needed to be careful. For it he were not he would surely end up dead if a human saw him. Thus he had to be sneaky as a green dragon in the night sky could.  
But sadly, it did not go unnoticed by some.  
Out in the middle of nowhere, close to the Mill, was Mark’s house. Inside, he and his cronies were drinking beer and waiting for their little friend to show them what he found on Molly’s camera. Mark was very upset to hear of the woman was getting him into trouble. She stuck her nose into his business that he wished he could set her house a flame. But that would be illegal and she had so many friends that they wouldn’t think twice before putting him in jail.  
That’s why Mark had a plan. The mill was the key source in all this. For it was the only thing keeping the town going again after a two years of being in use again. The town was thriving and people were making a decent living. But then again, people were also very grateful to Charlie Colins.   
This anger Mark. He should be the one the town showers with glee. Not this city slicker. And the mill owner was providing enough wood to keep up with today competition. So when Mark starts cutting down some perfect tree, Charlie’s girl gets all huffy and blows a gasket.  
But no more. Whatever was on this camera better be juicy. He needed to get something on the two if he wanted to rule this town.  
“Hey boss!” Out of the red room came a small lad no older than twenty-five. He looked to be the runt of the bunch as in he was only here because he was scared of Mark.  
Mark grabbed the pictures as his goons got behind the evil man. They whistled at the site on one of the pictures. It was that large tree that Molly had taken a picture of in the Dead zone Forest.  
“My, an’t that a beauty.” Said one of the men.  
“I sure love to cut her down.” Said another as he held one of the pictures.  
Just liked his men, he awed at the picture. He be so far ahead of his opponents that they would come to him for a piece of this fine tree.  
“Um sir?” The runt shrank back when he saw Mark glare at him. “This next one is quite..(gulp) interesting.”  
Mark snatched the picture from that frightens boy’s finger before looking at it. It was quite a strange picture, the man would give the boy that. Like others, he would say that this was photo shopped. Except there was no computer manipulate this picture on.  
In the photo there were two things that stood out the most. One was the strange kid with long tangled hair, at least he think it’s a boy since it had a flat chest. But what was behind him made him smile in glee the most. Behind the kid was a fury dragon.   
That was something he had never seen before. It was a genuine dragon. It narrow dragon face hover above the boy as its long neck held it up. It stared at the photographer is a stern look.  
“Hey, it the kid that was attacking the town yesterday.”  
Mark shot the man a looks to say ‘explain yourself to me or I’ll beat you till your black and blue.’  
“There was this kid that came into the hospital. All banged up you see. They say a wolf got him.” The man cowardly explained. “Said he ran off this morning he did. They’re still trying to find him.”  
Mark looked back at the photo with question. That explained the kid, but not the….  
“Hey boss! Come check this out!” The door slammed out as in comes another goon who was trying to show his boss what he saw. “There a dragon flying around town!”  
“What did it look like?” Mark asked straight away.  
“It was kind of dark.” The angry look he got from his boss made him try to rethink what he saw. “I think it was green and furry with wings.”  
Mark looked back at the picture as he smiled with glee. For the dragon was looking for its little pal and so was the kid. “Time to go boys.”  
All the men looked at the man with a questionable face. For they could not understand what their boss meant by heading out.   
“Where hunting a dragon!” Holding up the picture for all to see. “But first we need to find our new friend here.”


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:  
Core was bored. Nothing was happing today and his mother refused to speak to him for some reason. Yes, the big giant tree, who was once his mother, now stands as protector of the forest island. The red and black dragon had the ability to talk to his mother through one of her tree roots. But the female kept quite as if she were angry.  
She could not still be angry about what he did to Cy. That’s was months ago. Or days. Night and day usually move quickly by for the moody dragon. Core let out a huff in realization that he should probable got check on what his brothers might be doing. Maybe thsey were out hunting or something.   
The alpha dragon looked to the sky and saw the sun rising up and guessed his brothers may still be home. He could not understand why they slept in stone cold den away from their mother’s tree. Core felt as if he were losing his brothers. Leaf just hung out more and more with Cy while the dragon boy seemed to be losing all sense of what it means to be a dragon. Yes, the child had no wings but he still refused to hunt with his claws and teeth. He favored stones and sticks which were very odd to Core. Not very dragoness if anyone asked Core.  
The black and red dragon made his way to the two brother’s den. He just hoped they weren’t still mad at him for what he did days ago.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It was 7am in the morning at Max’s house. Molly had gotten in late last night due to trying to find the missing boy, Cy. The police, the rangers, Charlie, and herself searched all night in the woods behind her house and found no trace of him. It was unusual since the boy claimed to come from the woodlands and since he wanted to head back to the forest Island, which he had no idea how to get there. The likely choice would just be head into the woods until Cy figured out he went the wrong way or got lost.   
But there was no sign at all that the boy headed into those thickets. No foot prints or tracks. No sign of human disturbance. It made Molly wonder, did the boy just vanish into thin air.  
Right now, the female ranger was looking out the window, out of the front of the house, at the houses, street, and mountains, which were in the distance. Molly was sipping her coffee as she tried to think of where the fifteen year old could have gone.   
The only answer that came to her was home. When she was lost in the woods, she was a child, all Molly could ever think about was finding a way back home to her parents. But how would a boy who had never been in this part of the area know how to get home.  
Molly was only brought out of her thoughts when the sound of wood cutting. Looking to her left, the female listened and looked to where the sound was coming from to see that it was her father, crafting away. This puzzled Molly. Now, that she thought about it. Her father wasn’t even there for the search. Heck, he was the one who found the kid in their shed to begin with and form a bond with the said child.   
‘Why didn’t he help with the search?’ Molly wondered. And speculated she did as she began to put her cup down and make her way outside and to the Max’s workshop.  
The red haired woman, open the big wooden door to see her father sitting down at one of his work benches, that was in front of all his pictures he had drew over the years. The man completely ignore the female as he continued his work on making a couple figures.   
“What-cha doing Dad?” Molly looked over her father’s shoulder to see him making three strange figure. Two can be identified as dragon but one was definitely the most mysterious.   
It looked like a human figure. The figure was certainly male. But had long hair with knots and sticks. It a few patterns of swirls along its flat chest and pants that went down to his feet.   
“It’s a faerie.” Max stated as he continued his work on the face.  
“A fairy? Like Tinker Belle?” Molly questioned why her father would make such a girlies thing.  
“Not a pixie. A Faerie. F. A. E. R. I. E.” Max spelled out the world long and slow to make Molly understand the difference. “Faeries are as tall as you and I. And are much more ferocious and dangerous. They will steal your children or trick you into becoming their forever flock. Dark stories grandfather told me about these devil creatures.”   
Molly’s eye widen at the cruel words that escaped her father’s voice. Never had she heard such hate for such a fantasy creature.   
The ranger had to shake her head for a moment to remember why she was here. “Dad, I need to talk to you.”  
“Hmm?” Max did not look up from his work to meet his daughter gaze.   
“Why didn’t you go with us to hunt for Cy?” Molly received no words or acknowledgement from her father. “I thought you liked the boy.”  
“Who said I didn’t?”  
This caused Molly to grow more confused. If her father really did like Cy, then why not help? Why was he sitting her playing with his toys and not helping her? “Dad…..”  
“What if I told you to leave the child alone?” Max examined his creation before making a few more tweaks.   
“Why would I do that?” The female began to grow unease. “He’s lost and alone. He needs help.”  
“A faerie does not need help from a human.” Max scoffed at his daughter as he found his mistake in the art and began to fix it.  
That’s when Molly began to figure it out. “Dad, this is not one of your delusions of a mystical monster in the woods.”  
“It’s not a mystical monster. It’s a dragon.”   
Max and Molly had gone back and forth with this argument over a hundred times. Ever since Molly was back in college finishing up her degree.   
“And I’m telling you there’s no way there a dragon in these woods. Not with all the technology and people running about.” Molly began to name all the things that would unable a dragon to live in the modern world.  
“Yes and your phone didn’t work on Dead Zone Island. Did it?” Max got her there.  
The female had enough. Molly sat on one of the stools and looked at her father in the eye. “Okay, why do you believe there’s a dragon in the woods? Why do you even believe Cy is a faerie?”  
“Did I ever tell you how I saw that dragon?” Max let out a sigh and put his tools down. He began to look at all the pictures on the wall before finding the right one.  
“You were hunting in the woods and came upon it. You tussled and fought until one of you was standing.” Molly had heard many interpretations of the story, but that was mostly the gist of it.  
Max’s eyes began distant and downcast as he let out another sigh. “I think I should tell you the real story.” Max sat back in his chair as he began his tale. “Do you remember back when you were near the end of you college years.”  
Molly nodded her head. “I had a full scholarship.”  
“Well, I was worried about what if you stopped getting that scholarship and had to stop going to school. I couldn’t let that happen and my wood caverning business wasn’t like today. So I…”  
Molly’s eyes widen in realization. “Dad you didn’t.”  
“It was only a small job that paid really well.” Max closed his eyes at his horrible past mistake. “I was young and desperate. And Mr. Colins was paying well for the kill of the Forest Monster. I thought it would be a bear or wolf or something. You know easy money. I got stupidly partnered up with Harrison Macatane and well. Things just went horrible.” That’s when Max pulled down the one picture he had been hiding from Molly for years. “What if I told you I met Cy before?” He gave the picture to Molly for her to see. “What if I told you I was there to see Cy’s mother die?”  
Molly looked down at the picture in shock. In the artist rendering, was the boy Cy. Younger. A young child no less. He looked much more like a wild child than a normal ten year old boy. He was crouching on the ground next to a large body. A body of a female dragon. The boy had tears in his eyes as he held the look of fear. Molly could only image the thought of Cy wondering if he was next to get shot. “What happen next?”  
“There was another dragon. A younger one. Must have been one of her babies and Cy brother, Leaf. He scared me to death as he tried to protect his brother and dyeing mother. After that….” Max’s voice became quite. “That’s when the real Forest Monster appeared.”  
“Is this why you don’t like Charlie?” Molly had to know. After what her Dad said he experience, maybe there was a reason to not like her choice in a fiancée.   
“It’s more like I became afraid.” Looking behind Molly, he saw that Charlie had made his way into the shed and placed a hand arm his girlfriend shoulder in reassurance. “I was afraid it was all going to start all over again. The destruction and death.”  
“I would never let that happen.” Charlie sounded confident. The log owner wanted nothing like this to happen again.  
“It’s not always you who are the one to cause the damage.” Max said to the two.  
Before the couple could ask what the old man meant, there was a holler outside. The person sounded panicky and frighten. Calling over and over for Charlie for help.  
The group headed outside to be greeted by one Noal. He was one of Charlie’s younger workers. The twenty-five year old looked more like a runt compare to the other men.   
“What’s wrong Noal?” Charlie asked in confusion to why the boy was here.  
“Sir,” The boy ran over to the group breathing hard and heavy with his words quickening. “Sir, I didn’t mean to. He was going to hurt me if I didn’t help him.”  
“Calmed down son.” Max tried to calm the boy. “What’s happen? Who wants to hurt you?”  
“It’s not me Sir. It’s that boy. The one who was found by the brook.” Noal began to beg for Charlie forgiveness. “Mark took Molly’s camera and found a picture. A picture of the boy with a dragon.”  
The group’s eyes began to widen in fear at what the boy was saying.  
“He says he going hunting Sir.” The boy took out a copy he made of the picture of Cy and Leaf. “And he needs some real good bait to do.”  
Molly could not believe the picture she was holding. The boy was definitely Cy, but the picture of the dragon pulled into real shock. She could not believe it. All sense of reality was falling from her grasp as she stared at the picture. Her father was right. There are dragons in this world.  
But then the sudden’ realization came to her. Cy was in danger. They needed to find the boy quick before Mark and his goons do. Who know what may happen to the boy if those men got their hands on him.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It was back. The dream of the crash. The first thing Cy remembered was his five year old self had fallen into darkness from being racked around. The little boy did not want to open his eyes. He feared what would come next. Would he be stuck, trapped in something he could never get out.   
“Sky.”  
No, Cy would not listen to the voice. He was so afraid to open his eyes. He did not want to see the mud and dirt again.   
But his dream had other ideas, for little Cy opened his eyes and glanced around. He was still in the car but this time it was upside down. He could hear the words chanting over and over with fear. The little five year old looked up to see his father viewing over at him.  
The brown hair adult male was battered and bruise with shard of glass and blood coming from his wounds. He had somehow gotten out of the driver’s seat as he was crouched down on the ceiling. He looked at his son with worry. The father did not move for fear the car may shift. But out the window they could see that it was flat and they had not fallen over the edge.   
“Sky” The father was grateful that his son was alive. But he saw his eyes move to look at the chair beside him. “No Sky. Look at me. Me only.”  
Cy knew why his father wanted him to only look at him. He couldn’t see it, but already knew that he, now, had two dead mothers.  
The man crept closer to his son. The father reached over as he undid the buckle that held his son in place before catching him in his arms. He placed the boy on the ceiling and checked his wounds. So far nothing life damaging but they really needed to get to a hospital and check.   
Looking out the one side, the father saw the there was a road. The man turned his son to the lane as he guided the boy out of the car first. He made sure the five year old did not get injured by any of the broken glass as the boy made his way out.  
Finally Cy was out. The five year old turned to look back at his father with glee to what his father told him to do. The man smile and praised the boy for a job well done. All the father had to slowly make his way out too and then they could call for help.   
But this was no happy dream. For the sound of cracking could be heard as the ground beneath the car began to quake. The father looked up at his son before it happened.   
Cy watched his father and the car fall.   
The cliff had become unstable as it formed a crack all around the car. With its weight, the ground began to break and shift as the car, with the father inside, fell to their doom to the rocky cliff below.  
All Cy could do was watch in horror as his world changed that very second.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
Cy could still hear his five year old self scream as he slowly woke up. The haunting feeling of losing someone so dear and close. No wonder the boy gone into shock and lost his memories. Little Skyler could not cope with the reality that his parents laid in the ditch dead and gone. No one to care or help the little boy until Mara, Cy’s dragon mother, came and found him.  
The feral child was in the back of the truck. He was being driven to the bridge thanks to one Eric, Lacey, and Jason. The trio had kept their word and were taking Cy to the broken bridge that once led to the Dead Zone Island.   
All Cy could hope for now was that he would be home soon and this place that felt like a dream would be over. He would miss his new friends. Max would was the one who helped him out when he was cold and scared in the wood carver’s shed. Molly, the strange woman who got him help and aided him in figuring out how the human world worked. Charlie, the weird man who looked at him funny but was kind and honest. Cy just hoped she would just get with her boyfriend and just do it. Yeesh, most animals would have mated long before these too.   
And these three. Jason was funny with his tales and words of insult. Eric trying to keep his friend from not ending up dead by the opposite sex and taking care of his sister. Then there was Lacey. He had never met a girl such as her. In another life, she would have made Cy happy to be a partner with her. Sadly in the life he is living now that would not happen.   
The truck came to a stop and Eric hollered out. “We’re here.”  
Cy looked over the truck’s side to see the infamous bridge that he had come to known. On this side it was much different. It was looking towards his awaited home as some sort of beacon for him. Cy listened to the wind as he could imagine his brother, Leaf, howl for him to return.  
Cy climbed out of the truck and slung the fabric bag over his shoulder. “Thanks guys.”  
“It’s our pleasure.” Lacey was hanging outside the car window. “We were coming this way anyway.”  
“Even though it’s way off the main road.” Jason muttered to himself but received a giant kick from the girl hanging out the window.  
Eric rolled his eyes at his friend’s idiotic antics before asking. “Where ya gonna go after this?”  
Cy smiled at the group of one teen and two young adult. “To the island.”  
The three could not tell if the boy was serious or not but just let him be.   
“Strange kid.” Two out of three of the regular teens thought, but the kid seemed harmless and decided to do him a favor.  
“Whatever you say dragon boy.” Jason just saluted his hand from his forehead as a way in saying goodbye.  
They all said their good byes as the three watched the strange kid make his way towards the bridge.  
“You know?” Jason watched the strange boy leave as his best friend began to shift into drive. “”I really liked that kid. He was fun.”  
“Yeah.” Lacey had one of those far out, crush looks at the feral child.  
“You should have had sex with him. Then he wouldn’t have left us.” Thus Jason received a punch from both sides. “Owwww!!! I should not have sat in the middle of the duo siblings!”  
Cy shook his head as he heard the truck behind him sped off. He looked behind him to see the car heading back down the road. The feral child turned and watched the car fade away as a way in saying goodbye to this world.   
The teen turned back around as he saw the bridge coming closer. Stepping over rocks and green grass, Cy had finally made it to the broken bridge. The smell of rust from the metal bridge filled his nostrils as he could see nature trying to take over it. He looked to the other side and it looked to be miles away from him. His home, all the way on the other side.   
Cy knew he had no choice, he was about to cup his hands to his mouth to give one loud dragoness roar, when the sound of footsteps reached his ears.  
“Finally found you boy.”  
Cy turned around in shock. For he did not expect to meet the ones who were behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:  
Cy turned around and faced the strange but armed men. They looked like the loggers and hunter the feral teen had seen a long time ago. Except these hunters weren’t pursuing small game. They had thick tan ropes that could hold an animal the size of a grizzle bear. Guns ranger from a riffles to a typical hunter’s gun. Some had weird needle objects on straps around their waist while other men had them on a strap that went over their shoulder. The men looked armed and ready for something large. Cy did not want to know what the large creature may be.  
The fifteen year old watched the men carefully. A few on each side began to move forward as in to circle the young teen. This made Cy be on guard. He knew what these men was capable off. And he had a feeling that these menfolk didn’t come here to say hi.  
Two men in front of the feral child parted to reveal a man in his late 30’s with dark blonde hair that was pulled back into a semi pony tail. He was muscle like the other men but did not sport the trade mark bear. The look in his eyes, was all Cy needed to know that this was not only the leader but the a man with an evil plot in mind.   
The boy at first tried to play it cool. Similar to how the young adults that Cy hung out with last night acted. Something a normal human his age would do. “Hey guys. Are you lost?”  
Most of them men laughed, chuckled, and snicker. The feral teen thought he pulled the normal reaction just great. But the hunters thought differently.  
“Listen to him.” Said one of the men who was trying to stop laughing. “He trying to sound like a human.”  
“No wild child can ever be a man.” The leader stalked forward with a knife in hand. He ran his finger along its sharp edge as he gave the boy a most daunting look. “And I’ll prove it.” The blonde hair man pointed his knife towards the feral child before saying. “Get him boys.”  
All the hunters began to charge at the boy. One by one, each man through a punch, a grab, or a kick at the boy. But Cy countered each attack. What the forest had taught him was to always be on his guard. To defend himself until the right situation in to go on the offensive and attack his opponents.   
Cy pushed another man away from him and he tried to look for something. Something, anything sharp and pointy that he could use to defend himself. The boy did not know why, but he was very grateful that the men had not pointed their guns at him and started shooting.   
While stopping another punch from one of the hunters. Another logger, came up from behind Cy and put his arms around the boy. Cy smirked as the situation had, once again, came upon him. But this time the man did not fall back or forward. Instead the large man planted himself firmly on the ground and made sure he did not go anywhere. Thus, Cy was trapped. Two other men came up next to the boy and held his arms. When the large man let go, the two men acted as one and pulled Cy’s hands behind his back and pushed the boy onto the soft, grassy ground.   
Their knees pushed into his back as Cy smelled the strong herbal grass and musty grass. His faced hit the dirt is as some the ground smudged onto the boy’s face. The boy tried to push away and get the men off him. But it was no use. It seemed these men had been trained to hold someone like Cy.  
The men began to part again as they blonde hair leader made his way through the sea of loggers. Knife twirling in his one hand, the blonde hair man kneeled down in front of the captive. “No boy, I’m going to need you to do something for me.”  
The knife came close to Cy’s face. Almost touching his nose as Cy tried to stay away from it.  
“I’m going need you to call your dragon friend.” The leader, Mark, saw the boy’s eye widen in shock but soon grew to cold hate.   
Refusing to talk or yell for help, Mark could only smirk at the child’s braveness. But that braveness could get the kid killed. Especially Cy he didn’t do what Mark says. Pressing the knife closer to the boy’s neck, the blonde hair man watched as the feral child continued to show no fear.  
Cy watch as the leader took the knife away. Curiosity did fill him as to why the man did not try to kill him. He watched as the man let out a sigh before the leader turned his attention to the two men holding Cy.  
“Give me his hand.”  
Cy began to struggle more as he tried desperately to get away from the men. He did not want to lose anything but one of the men was able to grab his hand and place it on the ground in front of him. The boy tried to pull away but the man’s harm held fur. Cy began to cower inside when he saw Leader come towards his hand with the knife.   
The knife was placed firmly on the dirt ground between the middle and ring finger. The knife began to twirl and waver back and forth. It looked like the leader did not know which finger to cut off. But it was soon decided when the knife was aimed at the middle.  
“LET HIM GO!!!”  
Everyone looked up and behind their leader to see Molly, Max, and Charlie, who was the one pointing the riffle at the men.   
Charlie did not like guns. He never went hunting or used this weapon anywhere else but in the firing range. The only reason he had this riffle was just in case of wild animals that may or may not cause him harm when he was on the road. Right now, the Mill owner was very glad he had kept it in his truck. Even though he had no idea how many bullet were in it, it served its purpose by scaring a few of the hunters.  
“This is Ranger Molly. Put your weapons down and back away from the kid.” A ranger never needed to carry a weapon, but right now Molly wished she had some sort of weapon in her hand. These men were armed and dangers and in the hands of the most vile of men on mankind.   
Mark just sneered at the sight. It was almost laughable in his eyes. He knew Charlie had no clue how to handle such a weapon. Molly had nothing but her bag. And the old carver was standing there like an idiot. These three weren’t half as threating as a cub without its mother.  
Mark was about to tell his men to get’em when the sun went out. A large shadow loomed over the land as the men and woman looked up. No one could believe what they were seeing with their very eyes. Up high in the sky, was a large creature. But not just any beast. This was a giant green hairy dragon. The very one that had been in the photo with Cy.   
Molly could not believe her eyes at what she was seeing. Charlie did not know whether to shoot or stay very still. Max just gazed at the creature. It had been a very long time since he had seen such a beast. Not since he was young and stupid. But it felt like yesterday to the old man.  
The dragon came in for a landing and it halted in front of the bridge. It massive body shook the earth as its paws touched the ground. The green as grass dragon looked at the human with a deadly stare. When it eyes locked on its human brother did the dragon’s eyes narrow. Letting out a blood curdling roar of warning, Leaf began to yell at the men to let his brother go.   
All men fell into great shock. They had hunted big bulks, wolf, and bear but never such a mighty beast as this. They were even too afraid to act. They had never seen or dealt with a something like this. Some hoped it was a dream or a nightmare. But the all-powerful growl made them think otherwise.   
It was not until their boss, Mark, yelled, “What are you waiting for!?! Get it!”  
All hell broke loose as men fired their weapons on the poor emerald dragon.  
Chaos ensured by everyone when guns were fired and ropes were thrown. Each hunter was trying to get a piece of the olive green dragon. But Leaf was having none of that. He defended himself and tried to whack the men away with his giant claws. The earth dragon gave a mighty roar as he swung his large tail to knock them back. But that’s when it hit the green dragon. Another shot had rung but this time it hit the large beast in the shoulder. The only thing was, that this was no metal bullet. No, this was one of those tranquilizing darts to put an animal to sleep.  
“Use only tranquilizers!” Mark shouted at his men. “We want this beast alive!”  
Cy watched in horror as his dragon brother’s dismay. The feral child pushed off the stunned man, who was holding him back, to charge at the one responsible for shooting his dragon brother.   
But Mark had seen the wild child from the corner of his eyes. He used the butt of the gun to hit the boy square in the chest, knocking the boy back.  
The teen clutched his chest as the pain began to swell. It felt to the boys as if his heart had stopped. He felt arms drape over his shoulders and Cy met the face of Molly. She looked frighten. Both of what was occurring and situation of men fighting a dragon and the fact that Cy had been hurt.   
The fifteen year old saw there was nothing she could do but Cy knew that they had to do something. The boy could not allow these men to hurt his kind and gentle brother as if he were some kind of horrible beast.   
More shots rang into the sky before the full result of the drug took effect of the gentle dragon. Leaf began to feel tired and sleepy as his head began to sway from side to side. His body felt like boulders of rocks but tried to keep himself upright. But with his mind on standing up, Leaf, unfortunately, did not see the ropes come at him. The long, tough pieces of roped lassoed around his neck as both sides began to pull. Leaf was about to head towards the men when another draped over his neck and pulled him the other. The green dragon tried to stop the hunters but with his current weak state the dragon was fading fast. Looking forward, did Leaf see the leader again. This time he pointed the gun straight at Leaf before giving the trigger one last pull before the gun let out a power blast and launched a dart into the dragon’s chest.  
With that last dart, Leaf fell to the floor in a flop. The ground shook from the giant beast weight as everyone tried to steady themselves. Each man held onto the ropes to make sure the dragon was secure and not going anywhere.   
Leaf still had his eyes open as he tiredly looked at his human brother with a pitiful gaze. Sadness was in the dragon’s eyes that looked to say, ‘Sorry I could not protect you.’  
This caused Cy to grow shock and sad by the state of his dragon brother. The feral teen shook off Molly’s hands as he made his way over. But he was halted by the same man who struck him in the face.   
Mark was not letting this boy get near his prize. He stared at the dragon with glee. This was going to put him on the maps. The world with know of Mark Danvered and his amazing dragon. There would be people lining up the streets just to see the magnificent beast.  
The leader raised his arm as he gave a mighty call. All the hunters followed in their triumphant defeat of the beast.   
“This isn’t right.” Was all Molly could say.  
“I know.” Charlie did not know what frighten him more. The fact that there was a real live dragon or the fact Mark caught it. “But we need to get out of here.”  
Charlie was right. With Mark and his men anything could happen to them. Worse, Mark shot them dead and right there so no one would know his secret. The Mill owner tried to pull his fiancée away from the scene as quietly as possible. He did not want the hunters to beware of them leaving for they might shoot them.  
But one did notice the couple leaving the party. The sound of gunfire ran through the silent field as all turned to the man who fired it.  
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mark wasn’t asking a question. “No one leaves here without my say so.”  
“You have your dragon! What more do you want?” Molly yelled at the deranged man.   
“If I let you leave, you’ll just go off and spoil everything.” Mark made it sound like it was that simple.  
“Oh yeah. Everyone will believe us when we say you captured a real live dragon!” Molly spat at the idiotic man. “They’ll call us crazy.”  
“No more than then when they see what I got!” Mark yelled back.  
“And what are you going to do with it?” Molly knew by Mark’s clueless face that the man had no plan. “You got no idea, do you?”  
“Why you…”  
While both sides were fighting, Cy on the other hand was too busy being in shock to notice what was going on around him. He stared at his tired brother with a hurtful gaze. The feral boy could not believe this was happening. To Leaf. The dragon never wished to hurt anyone.   
That’s when Cy saw it. The boy’s body began to shake with anger as he saw nothing more than red. ‘How dare those humans do this!’ filled the teen mind.   
That’s when it happened. Like an instinct, Cy cupped his hands to his mouth as he grave a distressful dragon call. The ominous call range through the air until it reached the correct set of ears. All turned to stared at the wild teen. Not sure what to make of what had come out of the boy’s mouth.  
But fear grew less as nothing seemed to happen. Some even stalked towards the boy. Ready to give the boy a lesson in real fear for scaring them.   
But, their feet stopped moving when another sound rang through the area. It was loud and screeching. As if it was the sound Godzilla made from that recent film. They all turned their attention to the island to see something shoot through the trees and land with a mighty thud behind Cy.  
The boy knew what was behind the roar. The medieval dragon. Covered in red and black scales with horns littering his head and a nasty temper to match. Cy could feel the heat of rage coming from the Alpha dragon body. Anger that matched his own. He knew with only one word, Cy could sick the medieval dragon on all the hunters in a matter of seconds.  
Then the fifteen year old landed his gaze on Molly, Charlie, and Max. Realization that the alpha dragon didn’t care for the difference in human. The Alpha would take them all out.   
Everyone cocked their gun in preparation to fire. In Mark’s eyes this would be one hell of a hall. Two dragon because of one boy. The man lifted his gun as he fired the dart into the dragon’s shoulder. The needle didn’t make a dent as it bounced off the thick hide and onto the ground. The black and red dragon looked at where the hunter had hit before glaring back at him. Giving a low, nasty growl, the alpha dragon began to stalk towards the men.  
“You idiots!” Max eyes grew wide in fear as he gripped the couple to pull them back and away from the oncoming battle. “That’s the real Forest Monster! Run!”  
Unluckily, the hunters did not have time to take in Max’s advice before chaos broke loose. The medieval dragon let out a fire breath as it set everything a flame. The men tried to run for cover but the dark dragon used its tail and head to swipe at the ground. It sent hunters flying back. Some either fell down the steep cliff or into their trucks. The dragon fire some more at his prey. Trying to get them all.  
Fear struck the trio as they tried to get away from the scene. Frighten by the evil dragon the fact that it would go after them if they did not leave.   
The fifteen year old watched the battle. Mostly just happy because the hunters were getting what they deserved. But happiness grew into fear at what the next attack his alpha brother was, at what the demonic creature gazed upon. It was Molly, Max, and Charlie.   
The trio was trying to get away from the battle and head to their car. Core saw this attempt and blasted a strip of fire in front of them. The one woman and two men looked up in terror at what was soon to come. They clutched together and prayed it would be swift. But instead lifted their head at the sound of yelling. They saw the boy they had come looking for jump in front of them. He was trying to tell the evil dragon to back off and these people are harmless, but the dragon was too far gone to listen to anyone.   
The dragon tossed his head as it tried to head-butt the boy. Cy saw it coming as he jumped out of the way and slammed his body into the dragon’s side. The black and red dragon became angry. The dark dragon was about to fire another fiery blast went the teen jumped at the dragon’s head and held the mouth closed. Cy tried to hold on tight as the dragon swayed his head back and forth in hopes on knocking the boy off his head. The dragon did succeed though, sending the teen flying away onto the grass in front of a weak Leaf.  
Cy shook his head and tried to regain his sense. Looking up to meet his tiredly green dragon brother’s face, the boy tried not look ashamed at what he caused. But then as shadow began to loom over the feral child as Cy looked up to meet the one who had hurt his family.  
Out of everything that had happen, Mark Devered was still alive. The demented man held up his gun as he pointed it at Cy. Anger filled the man’s eyes as he wanted to end all the trouble caused by this stupid boy.  
It felt like slow motion in Cy’s eyes. The replay at what was happening again to him for the second time. This time, there was no Dragon Mother to save him. The boy heard the gun cock back. His eyes widen in fear of a bullet hitting his heart. The gun shot rang in his ears, as a flash of his life flooded in Cy’s eyes. But the bullet did not meet the boy’s chest. No, instead, two green paws were wrapped around the boy, while a large read and black dragon shielded the teen. Both dragon stood in front of their brother in protection. One, unfortunately, had taken the bullet to the chest.   
Dragon had had always been strong. But in the chest, was a dragon’s weakness. Just like his mother, Core fell to the ground in thud.   
Cy could not believe it. In all his years, he had never once thought his alpha brother would take a bullet for him. Or give up his life.   
Mark could not believe the shot he had made. But did not have time to register it before he was sent flying by black dragon tail. He hit his car with incredible forced. They man laid on the ground, not sure if he was dead or not.  
The boy grasped the black and red dragon’s scales as he tried to see if Core was alright. The alpha dragon turned his head to the two. With his dying breath, the dragon told the duo to leave.   
Before the boy could realize what was going on, he was picked up and placed on the green dragon’s back. Even though Leaf was somewhat drowsy and drug was quickly leaving his system, the gentle dragon knew that they were no longer safe here.  
The feral child looked down at the ground in shock. He could see Core laying on the ground dying. And Molly, Charlie, and Max gazing up at the boy with worry and fear. Cy was about to shout to them when Leaf began to open his big wings. The feeling of the wind blew against the boy’s face as he held on. Inside, Cy wished he could say goodbye, but knew if they didn’t leave now, more humans would come. The fire was spreading and the sound of choppers could be heard. They need to leave before chaos was once again upon them.  
The trio could not believe what they were seeing. The evil dragon had fallen but Cy was still being taken away. Molly was about to reach out when Max held her back. She looked to her father who was shaking his head. He told her that he did not belong in our world and Cy needed to go back to theirs. The ranger silently wished it wasn’t sew. But the carnage that happen today proved that man was not ready for dragons. Only one boy seemed up to the task.  
They watched both dragon and boy leave. They flew high up into the dark and smoke sky. Back to their little forest island in which they came.   
But then a gun shot rang out. The trio looked back to see Mark holding his gun with a smirk on his face. Even if he was going to lose his kill, the evil hunter was glad to see them fall. But the man did not have enough time to be happy for his kill, for once the smile appeared on his faced did his eyes grow dim as he died.  
The trio turned their eyes back to the ground. They could see the green dragon falter a little. Dread grew in them for the dragon must have been shot. There question was answered when they saw the Leaf drop into the woods.  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
It was not a soft landing. Because of where the bullet had hit, Leaf fell towards the ground and hit it with great force. Cy tried to hold on but upon impact the boy let go and fell onto the dirt. Looking back, the boy watched his dragon brother grew tired and breathe slow. Fear filled the boy as thoughts of him losing another filled his head.  
The only thing Cy could do was hug Leaf’s head. “Please, please.” The boy begged to anyone who could hear. “I’m so sorry.”  
Why did this have to happen? Rang into the boys mind. Why couldn’t they have just stayed in the cave? Why couldn’t he have just not angered the beta wolf? Why, Why? Was all that could echo in the Cy’s head. He wanted to know, no needed to know why this was happing to him. Why did everything around him have to die? He was tired of being alone. Tired of being hunted. Tired of all this.  
Cy began to cry. He could not stop himself and did not want to. All he could do was hold his brother’s head and hope it would be swift.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It had been a week since the incident. People in town mostly chalked it up to being forest fire caused by some campers who didn’t put out their fire. But Max, Molly, and Charlie knew. Even though there was no proof.   
The evil dragon that had started all of this was gone. Not only by death but the dragon had somehow guided itself to the cliff and jumped off. Next thing that happened was a strange rock wall, bursting out of the ravine and all around the forest island. The bridge was completely gone and the island looked to be guarded by a mountains.   
This made the humans realize why there were no proof to why dragon’s existed. Dragons do not turn to bone and dust like humans. They became one with nature. So that tree Molly saw was once Cy’s dragon Mother. It both amazed and shocked Molly at the same time. But it also did more. It made them realize that they could not tell anyone such a secret. For it Cy and his brother, Leaf, were alive. They needed to be protected and safe. Safe from those who would love to see them harmed.  
Inside the house, Molly had taken a day off and was baking some of her mother’s old recipes. Apparently the fire had done a lot of damage to the forest and the town was trying to put together a fundraiser for restoring the forest. Of course, Charlie did put a chunk of money into it, but Molly had other ideas. She wanted to get the whole town involve with this along with other areas that could help them. Molly thought that it was about time people realize the dangers of wild fire and the reason we need the forest.   
Max was in his workshop making all kinds of creations for the fundraiser. He thought with all his pieces that the money made off of them could be put towards Molly’s little project.   
Charlie wasn’t here though. The Mill owner needed to take in the damage at what the fire had cost him. Some of the forest that had been destroyed was on his turf but none so damaging that he could not stop production. He still had men and women who still worked for him and needed to feed their families.   
The sound of Molly humming could be heard from the open window and the sound of sawing from Max’s workshop. The sound of wind raced through the yards as doors to Max’s workshop sprung open. Both looked up from what they were doing from the loud banging. Max stepped out of his workshop to check on what had caused the door to swing open like that but when he lifted his face he was awestruck.   
Molly came outside to make sure her father was alright. She looked over at him as she tried to wipe off the flour that spread on her hands. She was quite confused as to the shock man’s face. Following his gaze, Molly saw what her father was distraught over.   
Over by the woods in their backyard, was the feral child that they had not seen in a week. He looked weak and tired as if he had walked all the way here. The boy wore the same clothes but there were covered in dried red blood.   
Molly gasped at the sigh and covered her mouth. Tears ran down her face as she ran to the boy. They both hugged in happy and sadness.  
One for being reunited, but the other in fear what had happen to the boy’s dragon. Molly rubbed circles on the Cy’s back as she tried to soothe him.


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue:  
“Come my little children,   
I tell thy the tale  
Of when dragons roamed the earth  
Such mighty creatures   
You can still hear them roar through the howls of the wind  
Their wings beat as loudly as thunder as they fly through the sky”  
It had been fifteen years since that faithful forest fire. Hardly anyone had been able to go camping or a simple walk in the woods. But one little boy and his father made time for that. They both dress in denim jeans and cotton shirts. The father had brown hair that had grown out a little bit. The child’s features were that of his father but hair as black as night that belong to his mother. Hiking boots of both child and adult make soft step like sounds as they made their way further into the woods. The five year old sung his happy little sung as the child held his father’s hand as they walked into the semi dark woods.  
“Their feet shook the earth as they roamed from hill to isle.  
Their powerful fire scorched the land as they protected themselves from all harm  
But do not worry my children for I will protect you till death  
Sleep, sleep my child   
Tucked under my wing”  
At the last part was when the boy let out a quick gasp. For up ahead something began to stalk towards them. Like the song, the heavy footsteps shook the ground as the creature came closer. Hiding behind his father’s leg, the little boy watched as the tree gave way to a large shape.  
Green it was. With plush like fur and a dragon body to go with it. There was a scar along its shoulder with a slash mark upon it. Its face held no anger or hostility, but it looked as if it were smiling. Happy to see who had come to his home.  
Gazing from boy to man. The dragon saw the face of an older features of the once human brother he had once called Cy.  
“Hello Leaf”  
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Aunthor’s Note: Hey guy, I know this needs a lot of work and hopefully in the future I will be fixing this up. I just wanted to post this for anyone to be inspired to write or draw their own story from this.  
Thanks again for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed this.


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